


The Sure Thing

by beep_beep_eds



Category: IT (2017)
Genre: M/M, rom com AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-15 11:25:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15411846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beep_beep_eds/pseuds/beep_beep_eds
Summary: A road trip across the country to get laid, with your former best friend/crush in the same car. What could go wrong?Based on the 1985 John Cusack movie The Sure Thing





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> This is my first fic so please be nice to me lol  
> This is based on the movie The Sure Thing, which is excellent if you haven't seen it. If you have, sorry this will probably be pretty boring because it's basically just the movie with some extra stuff added in. I watched it for the first time the other day and just fell in love, and all i could think the whole time is how much the characters were both like Eddie and Richie. I needed an AU, but I searched and it appears no one has written one, so here we are. I'm writing this strictly because I want to read it lol
> 
> Come talk to me on tumblr!  
> beep—beep—eds.tumblr.com

The end of summer party was raging all around him, while Richie Tozier was striking out with the third girl that night. He was sitting in the back of Mike Hanlon’s pickup truck, his arm around a brunette that he knew in passing from Spanish class. She was pretty enough, Amber he thought her name was, though he couldn’t really be sure. She was sweet, giggled at all of his dumb jokes, and hadn’t asked him to shut up once yet, which was always a good sign. He knew if he tried he could probably hook up with this girl tonight, she seemed eager and Bill had said she asked about him at school before. 

The thing was his heart just wasn’t in it anymore. He wondered if it was it really worth all this effort just to get laid when he was leaving for college in a few days anyway? He was talking up a storm, and she seemed interested enough, but he couldn’t be bothered with all the pretence anymore. 

Before his brain had a chance to catch up and stop him he heard himself blurt out “So Amber, want to have a sexual experience so intense it could change your political views.” Needless to say he wasn’t shocked by the slap she gave him before storming off in a huff. 

Richie sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “I’ll take that as a no then.” He slowly made his way away from the crowd, kicking stones, on his way up the grassy hill of the park. How the Derry graduating class had managed to be allowed to throw a massive party on the baseball diamond was beyond him. One of the kids parents must be the mayor or something. He was sure they would have gotten shut down before now. 

He finished his climb up the hill and plunked himself down with a sigh. He scanned the crowd for his friends, hoping to find someone to help occupy his mind. He spotted Ben Hanscom and his best friend Stan “The Man” Uris having a drink with a bunch of the science kids. Richie rolled his eyes, he loved Stan and Ben, but there was no way in hell he would get roped into another conversation with those dorks. High School was over, he was free of that shit, he didn’t have to talk to anyone from Derry anymore if he didn’t want to. 

That thought made him both happy and conflicted at the same time. He couldn’t help his glance from drifting over to where Eddie Kaspbrak and Beverly Marsh sat with Eddie’s boyfriend Patrick by the fire. Eddie sat squished in the middle, with his best friend Bev’s arm linked through his on the right, and his head leaning on Patrick’s shoulder on the right. Richie rolled his eyes for what felt like the hundredth time that night. He liked the kid well enough, but did they have to have so much in your face PDA, it was a bit much if you asked him. 

He immediately felt guilty for that thought. He and Eddie used to be best friends in middle school, practically inseparable. The seven of them, Richie, Eddie, Bev, Mike, Stan, Ben and Bill were all basically inseparable before high school. They spent practically every day together. Then, somehow, life happened, and that just wasn’t the case anymore. 

Eddie and Bev both came out that first year and helped to form the school’s GSA. They made new friends and started spending their lunches either planning or attending their meetings, not leaving a lot of time for the rest of their friends. At first they all made an effort to hang out outside of school. But then Richie joined drama club and started having to practice for the play most evenings, and everyone else followed suit with their own extracurriculars, and they slowly stopped seeing Bev or Eddie anymore. 

Richie and Bill still saw each other all the time, he spent more than half his nights at Bill’s house during High School when it was too tough at home for him to stand being there. Bill’s family was more like his family then his own, he even had his own small pull out bed in Bill’s room. Bill was like the brother Richie never had. 

Richie and Stan had grown up together, their parents were a part of the same synagogue, so they were never really far apart. Stan also took to spending most of his free time at Bill’s, so they saw a lot of each other that first year, which really helped to keep them together. Richie and Stan were in basically all of their classes together, much to Stan’s annoyance, since Richie was actually much smarter than he looked. 

Ben was always a go with the flow kind of guy and just started tagging along to the hangouts at Bill’s. He had made some new friends on the track team over the four years, but none he was as loyal to or as comfortable with as he was with Richie, Mike, Bill and Stan. 

Mike was homeschooled until he came to Derry High in sophomore year so his relationship with them was never affected by the shifting of dynamics. Of all of them Mike was the only one who remained close with both Bev and Eddie. It was kind of just something they collectively didn’t talk about since they all felt rather awkward about it. They all missed Eddie and Bev, but wouldn’t admit it out loud to each other, and not enough to ever actually do anything about it. Mike was the captain of the football team and on the honor roll, yet still somehow had time to spend his weekends with Richie and the guys, and still have time for Bev and Eddie during the week. 

A rustling sound behind him forcibly pulled Richie from his thoughts and forced him to pull his gaze away from Eddie and Bev. He turned around to see Mike and Bill climbing the hill towards him. Bill dropped to the ground beside him, while Mike tossed him a beer before sitting on Richie’s other side.  
“Hey, what is this, lonely man sitting on the hill, huh?” Bill nudged Richie’s shoulder playfully. 

“It’s over guys, it’s gone. I’ve lost it.” Richie moaned. 

Mike and Bill exchanced curious glances. 

“Is Richie Tozier finally admitting his brain is gone? I mean it’s common knowledge at this point, but it’s good to hear him admit it. First step towards recovery is acceptance,” Bill said solemnly, struggling to keep a straight face. 

“Hardy-har dick bag, laugh it up, let’s all laugh at Richie Tozier and his sad fate of never getting laid again.” At this Mike rolled his eyes so hard he had to blink a few times to get his vision to focus again.

“Richie what the hell are you going on about? You hooked up with some girl a few months ago, and I literally just saw you making out with Samantha like an hour ago.”

Richie opened his beer and took a few large gulps before burping loudly, though this didn’t get a reaction from either of his friends, which only deepened his scowl. “I just can’t motivate myself anymore. I just don’t care. I don’t know why I don’t care but I just don’t. I guess I’m just really over it.”

“Over what Rich? Girls?” asked Bill curiously. 

“Well first of all Billiam, you know I swing both ways so that's a little biphobic for you to phrase it that way…”

“Jesus Christ, you know I didn’t mean it like that dick wad. I’m bi too in case you forgot..”

“It’s High School I’m over. I’m over these people and this town. I can’t wait to get out of here.” Richie cut off Bill’s rant before he could really get going, waving his hands in the air dramatically at the crowd below and sloshing beer all over his pants. “The only people I’m gonna miss in this goddamn town is you two,” Richie bumped his shoulders with Bill and then Mike. 

“It’s your own damn fault Rich, you could be coming to California with us you know,” Bill reminded him for what felt like the millionth time. “You’ve only been talking about California since you were in like grade 7.” 

“Ya, ya wise guy I know. I’m going to New York though. We talked about it, I mean it, I really think it’s the best place for me.” 

“Okay Rich, as long as you’re sure, I’m happy for you.” 

“Plus Stan and Ben will be there to keep him out of too much trouble,” Mike added with a smile. 

“When have they ever managed to do that? More like he’ll drive them crazy and I’ll have to hear about it from both of them every damn day on the phone,” Bill said exasperatedly. 

Richie barked a laugh, “Fair enough Big Bill, you can’t escape me just cause you’re going halfway across the country. I’ll haunt your dreams,” he made ghostly moaning noises and draped himself over Bill. Bill, to his credit, held Richie up while he floundered around doing his terrible ghost impresion, and only pulled one face about it. 

“You’re gonna come visit over Christmas thought right Rich? You won’t bail on us when you meet all the hot new people at NYU right?” Bill accompanied the question with an obnoxious eyebrow wiggle that made Richie snort. 

Bill and Mike had exams right after Christmas, so they had collectively decided to visit their family at Thanksgiving, and stay on campus for Christmas. Richie had absolutely no desire to see his family over the holidays, but Stan and Ben would both be going home for the break, so it was decided he should spend it in California with Mike and Bill. 

“Ya of course Big Bill, you’re gonna scout out all the hot people for me before I get there,” Richie said with an over the top wink, “so I can get my Christmas jollies on.” 

“There he is,” Mike laughed, “see all you need is a change of scenery. Ladies, and occasionally Man’s, man Richie Tozier isn’t dead yet. He’s just dormant, lying in wait for college. Like a supervillain, biding his time.” Mike leaned over to ruffle Richie’s hair like he used to when they were kids. 

“You guys are such dorks,” Richie complained, but he wasn’t fooling anyone with the giant grin on his face.


	2. Chapter 2

_November 25th 1994_

_Dear Bill,_

_New York is fucking awesome. Campus is awesome, there’s always something cool going on. Drama stuff is great, I’ve met some pretty cool people. Basically I’m having the best fucking time of my life. Hope everything is going as amazing for you as it is for me._

_Love Rich_

_Ps. I know you talk to Stan so I know you know everything I just said was bullshit. Im floundering in a sea of confusion and total despair. And NO I’m not being dramatic. Everything sucks. Well everything except Stan and Ben who are amazing and too nice as per usual. I definitely thought they would have kicked me out of the dorm by now, so i guess that’s a win. Pretty fucking sad that that’s the highlight of my school year, didn’t get kicked out by best friends, man you’re really killing it Tozier. Anyway Bill, call me soon, and don’t forget about Christmas, I’m fucking dying here. You better find someone hot for me to love when i get there, or I swear to god I’m gonna jump off a bridge. Okay LOVE YOU BYE_

_pps. Oh man, i forgot to tell you this. So guess who’s in my english class. I’ll give you a hint, tiny, insanely small shorts that are not appropriate for the weather, very angry and gay. Ya, Eddie fucking Kaspbrak. I mean I knew he and Bev were going here but I was really not expecting to see him in my class. I tried being friendly the first day but he completely brushed me off and won’t even look in my direction so THAT’S FUN._


	3. Chapter 3

Richie ran down the hallway after a quick look at his watch told him he was already ten minutes late for his English class. He had definitely spent a little too much time talking to that cute girl from down the hall, when he should have been leaving for class. He didn’t even know why he bothered, if he was honest, she had a boyfriend, he was pretty sure. 

It wasn’t that college was horrible or anything, Richie just really wasn’t good with change. He liked things to stay the same way and it took a long time for him to get used to new things. He liked the parties and the freedom that college allowed, but he also missed Bill and Mike, and had little to no luck making any new friends since school started. He had no problem meeting people, he was friendly with some guys from his building, he just tended to lose interest after a few days, and was terrible at keeping in touch or following through on plans. No one got him the way Stan and Ben did, so he didn’t really see the point in trying too hard. 

Needless to say his romantic life wasn’t going so hot either. He had had one, albeit amazing, makeout session with a cute curly haired guy during his first week, but that had been it. Even Ben was having more luck than he was. Apparently college girls liked the whole adorable nerd thing Ben had going on. His new physique from all the running probably didn’t hurt either. 

Stan was his usual self, he had many guys pining after him, but didn’t really care to give them the time of day. Richie and Ben both knew it was because he hadn’t yet gotten over his crush on Mike Hanlon, but they decided it was best to just leave that alone and let them sort it out in their own time. Richie was endlessly grateful for his two best friends/roommates, as they kept him from feeling as down as he might otherwise. Though if he didn’t get his grades up it wouldn’t matter, he’d almost certainly be kicked out by Christmas. 

With this thought he picked up the pace until he reached the last door in the hallway, and barreled through it into his English classroom. He jogged over to his seat waving his hand apologetically at Ms.Taub, their elderly, overly enthusiastic about poetry, professor. 

“Sorry I’m late, there was this big problem.. and i’m late because of it.” Richie flashed her a smile, hoping it would make up for his lack luster excuse. The boy he sat beside rolled his eyes at him, though he was still laughing to himself. Richie shrugged, grinning, “what? It was a serious problem!” 

Out of the corner of his eye he caught Eddie Kaspbrak glaring at him from where he sat to his left. He didn’t usually sit near Eddie, who had made a point of sitting as far away from Richie as possible in the small classroom up until that point. Bad news for Eddie that the only empty seat for Richie to take was right beside him. 

Richie ignored the glare, instead leaning over to look at the notes Eddie was taking. Class had only started ten minutes ago and he had already filled two pages with detailed notes. “Geez, take enough notes there Eds?” Richie commented, laughing quietly. 

Eddie scoffed, refusing to acknowledge him, and pulled his notes further to the other side of the desk, blocking them with his left arm so Richie could no longer see them. 

“Alright sorry.” Richie held his hands up defensively, and turned back to face the front, just in time to hear the Prof start critiquing their essays from the week before. He tapped his pencil against his leg, trying his best to listen while she gave students advice on their various topics. After a minute or so, however, his mind drifted and he began to daydream about going to California and meeting a really hot guy who thought all his jokes were hilarious, and that his glasses were charming. 

“Mr. Tozier, am I bothering you?” Richie’s daydream was interrupted rather abruptly by Professor Taub, who was looking at him with an exasperated expression. 

“Oh, sorry what?” Richie cast a glance around the room and noticed all eyes were on him. He looked back at the professor sheepishly. 

“I said, Mr. Tozier, I wanted to talk about your paper. I wanted to tell you that I really enjoyed your paper.”

“Wait, you did?” Richie wasn’t sure if she was being serious or not. 

“Yes it was very interesting. I can't remember the last time I have read in such detail about how to eat pizza without burning the roof of your mouth.” She was smiling softly now, so it seemed maybe she had actually thought it was funny. 

The majority of the class chuckled at this. Richie wasn’t surprised to see Eddie roll his eyes and murmur “typical” under his breath. 

“Unfortunately,” Professor Taub continued, smile dropping, “whatever whimsical points it was your paper evoked, are obscured by all the marginal grammar errors, creative spelling, and I beleive what must be a sausage stain.” 

Richie had the good sense to look slightly sheepish at his, while trying to contain his laughter. “It’s peperoni actually.” 

“Clean it up Tozier.” 

Richie gave her a mock salute “Sir, yes sir.” 

Professor Taub moved to Richie’s left, dropping a paper on Eddie’s desk. “Mr. Kaspbrak. You on the other hand, express your ideas very clearly.”

Eddie arranged his face into a smug smile that filled Richie with instant irritation. 

“However your paper is.. It’s dry,” Taub continued. The smile instantly fell from Eddie’s face and Richie felt a self-satisfied grin make its way onto his.  
“There’s not enough of you coming through. It’s all so robotic and by the book. You gotta loosen up, have some fun.” Eddie’s expression looked he had no idea what the word fun even meant. “Life is the ultimate experience,” Taud continued, “you have to experience it to write about it.” 

Eddie’s scowl deepened. He had these cute little wrinkles in between his eyebrows that always made an appearance when he was ticked off. Richie used to love teasing him for it. He would poke him in between the eyebrows and call Eddie “cute, cute, cute” before giving him a kiss on the cheek. The memory made Richie smile. Eddie still looked pretty darn cute with that scowl, if he was being honest. He hadn’t let himself look at Eddie that way in a long time, so he felt a little ashamed for the thought. One look at Eddie told him Eddie wouldn’t appreciate the thought either, so he decided to keep his mouth shut. Richie returned to bouncing his leg and dreaming of California. 

 

 

“Why won’t you throw it to me Hanscom?” Richie jogged backwards, flailing his arms about for the ball that no one seemed willing to throw to him. 

“Cause you’re a cheat and you know it Tozier” Ben called back with a laugh. 

“How is it even possible to cheat at touch football,” Richie threw his hands up dramatically in defeat. 

“Alright Tozier I’ll pass it to you next if you promise to shut up,” Alex, a guy from their dorm who was friendly with both Richie and Ben, called to him from across the lawn. Richie drew an x over his heart in a promise. 

Ben lined up to toss it back to another teammate. “You’re a dead man Hanscom, I’m coming for you,” Richie called to Ben, unable to keep his promise for more than thirty seconds. 

“Can it Tozier!” Alex yelled over his shoulder while running. The other guy on Ben’s team, Dave, was booking it down the field towards Richie. Richie dove dramatically in front of Dave as he attempted to throw the ball forward, slapping the ball to the ground. 

“Oh, and Tozier makes another amazing defensive save,” Richie cheered, high fiving Alex as he ran by. He held his arms out like an airplane and continued to cheer for himself obnoxiously while running circles around the other team. 

“I don’t know what the hell she’s even talking about!” Eddie Kaspbrak’s shrill voice that he got when agitated drifted across the park towards Richie. “I live life! I’m an interesting person!” . Richie and Ben both perked up upon hearing Eddie, and turned to look in his direction. 

Eddie was strolling arm in arm with a pretty redhead from their English class. Richie figured he must be complaining about their prof not liking his paper. 

“I formed the GSA at my school, I was on the honor roll! I got a full scholarship here, I went to France with my mom a few years ago. It was an awful trip, but still, I’ve done things!” Eddie was clearly worked up, and the red headed girl was clearly trying to calm him down. She rubbed his arm soothingly, and glanced around for other topics of conversation. 

“Hey what do you think of that guy?” she asked, tilting her head towards the field. Richie half turned towards Ben so he could pretend to not be listening, even though he clearly was. They were talking quietly enough that they probably thought Richie and the guys couldn’t hear them. 

“Who Ben?” Eddie asked, looking in Ben’s direction. 

The redhead giggled. “No, I mean that guy. The curly haired one,” she lifted her chin towards Richie. Eddie finally looked in his direction. “I like his whole ‘I’m not trying too hard, I just rolled out of bed but still look cute in my band shirt’ thing he’s got going on,” the redhead said, giggling slightly as she spoke. “Plus he’s got a cute ass.” 

Eddie had clearly had enough at that point, he rolled his eyes and began to pull her forwards towards the next building. 

“Heads up,” Ben called. 

Richie turned in time to see the ball coming his direction. He made a jump forward and caught it, flinging himself in the path of Eddie and the redhead as he did so. He made a big show of cheering for himself over the save. “Tozier makes his ninth interception of this season! He’s having an amazing year! The crowd is going wild,” Richie yelled while jogging in circles in front of them. The redhead seemed impressed. Eddie, however, did not. 

“Out of my way Tozier.” 

“All right Eds geez, a little touchy today aren’t we.” Richie bowed dramatically while backing away from them. “As you wish my liege.” 

Eddie turned his chin up and marched quickly towards the building, the redhead struggling to catch up. 

Richie was still smiling when he ran back over to Alex to rejoin the game. Alex took one took at Richie’s smile and started shaking his head. 

“Forget it man. I know you like dudes and stuff, but don’t try it with Kasprak, I heard he’s really stuck up, and only likes intellectuals.” 

Richies jaw dropped. “Okay wow. Well first of all who said anything about trying anything with Eddie, I was just teasing him.”

“Ya okay whatever man.” 

“And second,” Richie cut him off quickly, “I’ve known Eddie since grade school so you don’t have to tell me about how stuck up he is. No thank you. And third, what the hell are you talking about man? I’m intellectual and stuff!” Richie was most offended by that point. 

“Yeah ok, whatever dude, you’re flunking English and that’s your mother tongue.” Richie threw the football at his head. 

“Ouch, hey! I’m just saying dude. You gotta get it together or you’re gonna get kicked out. You could do with a bit of the Kasprak stuck up attitude so you can pass.” 

This got the gears in Richie’s head turning. He needed help rewriting his paper or he was gonna flunk. Eddie needed to make his more interesting or he probably wasn’t going to do very well either, something that probably wouldn’t sit very well with Eddie if Richie knew him at all. 

“Alex, my man, you are brilliant.” Richie flashed him a winning smile before jogging over to get in place for the next snap. 

Richie snapped the ball to Alex, and then ran down the field to catch it. He jumped in the air, just barely catching it before it slipped from his fingers. “Yeah, go Tozier!” Alex cheered from down the field.

As he was landing, Richie became distracted as he saw Eddie and his friend entering the far building. Worried he might lose Eddie before he got the chance to talk to him about the English homework, Richie made the quick choice to ditch the game and chase Eddie down. 

He was halfway to the building when he heard the shouts following him. 

“Tozier god dammit, why are you like this?”

“Dude where are you even going?”

“Richie, if you’re gonna take off at least give us the ball back please.” Ben was by far the kindest of the voices calling after him, sounding more amused than annoyed. 

“Sure thing haystack,” Richie called, throwing the ball back over his shoulder, not turning to see if it even went in the right direction before running through the door in the direction Eddie disappeared. 

 

Apparently Eddie was a swimmer now. Richie figured as much out after ten minutes of wandering around aimlessly, unable to find Eddie. Eventually he stumbled upon the redhead who was on her way back out the door they had come through. 

She gave him a small smile. “He’s in there,” she pointed towards the pool. “In the changing room.” 

Richie felt suddenly awkward that it was apparently that obvious that he had been searching for Eddie. “Why thank you kindly ma’am,” he said in his best southern drawl, overcompensating for his awkwardness. He added on a tipping of his pretend hat for good measure. She giggled, which was the desired effect, so he smiled happily at that, before turning on his heel to find Eddie. 

It seemed Eddie was still in the changing room, so Richie leaned against the wall just outside the door so he wouldn’t miss Eddie when he exited. It took less than a minute before Eddie was striding towards the pool in his tiny, very tiny, bathing suit. That took Richie off guard for a minute, and it took a lot of self control for him to drag his eyes back up to Eddie’s face. 

“Hiya Eds.”

“Oh dear god, can’t I have two seconds of peace.” Eddie tossed his head back in irritation. 

“Look, I’m flunking English, and I was wondering if you could help me out? We could help each other!” Richie gave what he hoped was his most sincere smile. 

Eddie looked him up and down before he simply said, “You’re not allowed in here without a swimsuit,” and walked away. 

Not to be deterred, Richie fell into step right behind him. 

“Look Eds, if I flunk English, I’m out of here. I can kiss college goodbye.”

Eddie ignored him, setting his towel by the edge, and diving gracefully into the water. He began to front crawl towards the other side. Richie had to quickly begin to jog to catch up and keep pace, careful not to slip and fall in. Eddie was a surprisingly fast swimmer. 

Richie decided the sincerity route apparently wasn’t working, so he decided on the dramatic route. Putting on his most hard done by voice, he began a monologue in a woeful tone. 

“I don’t know what I’ll do... probably go home. Gee, Dad will be pissed off, that won’t be pretty. Mom will be heartbroken. If I play my cards right I get maybe a six months grace period, and then I gotta get a job, and you know what that means. That’s right!” Richie pointed dramatically at Eddie, who was still swimming laps, pointedly ignoring him. “They start me off at the drive up window, I gradually make my way up from shakes to burgers. And then one day, my lucky break comes,” Richie was panting a little at this point from the effort of yelling his dramatic speech while keeping pace with Eddie’s laps. “The french fry guy dies and they offer me the job. But the day I’m supposed to start some men come in a black car and tell me I can make a quick thousand just for driving a van back from Mexico.” 

Richie paused for dramatic effect. “When I get out of jail, I’m 36 years old. Living in a flop house, no job, no home, very few teeth,” his voice was rising in pitch with each word, to the point that he was basically screaming. “And then one day they find me, face down, laying in the gutter, clutching a bottle of paint thinner. And WHY?! Because YOU wouldn’t help me in English, NO! You were too busy to help me!” Richie was getting really carried away now, flapping his arms all over the place and suddenly made a very rash decision. 

“Too busy to help a drowning man!” He yelled, as he flung himself into the pool, directly in Eddies path. Eddie stood, looked him dead in the eyes, then moved to the side and continued to swim past Richie to the wall, where he promptly jumped out and marched back into the changing room. 

Richie stood in the middle of the shallow end, feeling just slightly foolish, in his soaking wet clothes. After a minute or so he realized Eddie wasn’t coming back, so he hopped out to go wait for him. 

Ten minutes later Eddie finally emerged from the changing room, walking down the hall towards where Richie sat on the front steps, dripping wet and looking slightly miserable. Eddie rolled his eyes at the sight. 

“Okay.”

“Okay what?” Richie mumbled from his spot on the ground. 

“Okay I’ll help you.” Eddie said it very matter of factly, without meeting Richie’s eyes. 

“You will?!”

“Yes, but don’t make me regret it Tozier”

“Aye Aye Sir!” Richie jumped up and immediately started bouncing on the balls of his feet, spraying water as he did so. Eddie looked thoroughly unimpressed. “When?”

“Sorry?”

“When are you free to help me? How about tonight?”

“Oh, uh, hold on let me check.” Eddie pulled out small a brown leather book, and began flipping through the pages. “Okay let’s see, 5:30 dinner, 6:00 calculus, 7:00 news, 7:30 shower, 7:45 phone call. How about 8:00?” 

Richie tried his best not to laugh at the schedule. He schooled his face into a somber expression. “Oh man, I can’t, 8:00 is when I organize my sock drawer.” He tried to appear earnest as he met Eddie’s gaze. 

Eddie gave a deep, tired sigh. “Look do you want me to help you or not?”

Richie laughed, “yes sorry, yes.” 

Eddie gave him a sceptical side eyed glance before penciling ‘Tozier, English’ in at 8:00pm that evening. 

“Careful there Eds, that sounds like you’re inviting a handsome English gentleman over for some fun” Richie waggled his eyebrows in Eddie’s direction, trying to make him laugh. 

Eddie however, went slightly pink in his ears and snipped “Don’t call me Eds, I’ve told you a thousand times,” before turning to walk away. 

“So tonight?” Richie yelled at Eddie’s back. 

“Sure.”

“Uhh.. where?”

“Founders Hall,” Eddie yelled over his shoulder, “don’t be late.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it Eddie my love,” Richie called in a sing-song voice. He got the finger in response.


	4. Chapter 4

“Well fellas, how do I look?” Richie twirled theatrically, showing off his outfit to his roommates. 

Stan peered up at him from where he sat on his bed, reading his calculus textbook. “You look exactly the same as you always do.” His eyes narrowed, “Why, what’re you up to?”

Richie avoided making eye contact. “Oh nothing, just checking to see if I pass the Stan The Man handsome test.” 

Stan snorted. “That you definitely do not.” 

“Is this about Eddie?” Ben chimed in casually from across the room where he sat reading in a beanbag chair. 

“Dammit Ben!” 

“Eddie, what now?” Stan raised an eyebrow at him at the same time Richie yelled in exasperation at Ben. 

Richie plastered an innocent look on his face. “I may have run into our dear old friend Edward this afternoon, and he agreed to help me with my English homework.” 

“Oh dear god, not this again.” Stan rubbed his fingers over his temples, looking very frustrated. “Please tell me we aren’t starting this routine yet again.” 

“What routine?” Ben asked innocently, genuinely not understanding what Stan was on about. 

Stan rolled his eyes and looked as if he might just slap someone before continuing. “The routine where Richie gets a crush on Eddie for the eight millionth time, but refuses to actually do anything about it and becomes completely insufferable, making all our lives a living hell.” 

“Excuse me?” Richie’s mouth was hanging open in surprise. “Who the hell said anything about a crush on Eddie?” 

“Oh please,” Stan scoffed. 

“You’re not nearly as subtle as you think you are,” Ben said with a small laugh. “We could all tell you liked him since we were in like, seventh grade. That’s why none of us was surprised at all when you came out in high school.” 

Richie was genuinely floored by this, he definitely thought he had been way more subtle about it. 

Stan laughed. “Congrats Ben, you actually found a way to shut him up.”

“I mean it was really obvious. Remember when Eddie came out, Stan? And Richie practically had a heart attack and then avoided him for like a week. And then Eddie got his first boyfriend, I thought Rich’s head might actually explode.” Ben couldn’t contain his laughter at Richie’s face as he said this. 

“Ya I mean I know we weren’t exactly close anymore, but you avoided him like the plague whenever he had a boyfriend. Remember when he started dating Patrick and you wouldn’t shut up about the guy for weeks?” Stan deadpanned. 

“Well Patrick sucks! We all know that, it’s common knowledge!” Richie threw up his hands in exasperation. 

“I think he’s nice actually,” shrugged Ben. “He used to help me with my science homework sometimes. He’s nice to talk to.” 

“Et tu, Brute?” Richie cried, placing a hand over his heart, and gasping. 

“He really isn’t a bad guy, Rich,” Stan said, turning back to his book. “Your problem clearly isn’t with Patrick.” 

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear any of this.” Ben and Stan exchanged a look, but both apparently decided to drop it, returning to their books. Richie turned back to the mirror and tried one more time, without success, to get his hair to lay flat. With a sigh, he grabbed a beanie and shoved it on his head, in an attempt to hide the mess of curls. 

He turned sideways, examining his outfit. He’d gone with just a flannel and jeans, he didn’t want to seem like he was trying too hard. He had picked his nicest flannel though, it couldn’t hurt to look presentable. 

With a sigh he figured that was as good as it was going to get. He grabbed his keys and wallet and made his way to the door. 

“Alright ladies, don’t wait up.”

“Bye Rich, see ya later.”

“Have fun on your date,” Stan cooed. 

“Fuck you Stan, it’s not a date.” 

“Give Eddie a kiss hi for me,” Ben said, barely containing his laughter. 

“That’s it, I’m moving out. Goodbye forever, you idiots,” Richie called dramatically as he walked through the door and slammed it behind him. 

 

The walk to Eddie’s building went by quickly. Richie was enjoying the cool November air, it helped to calm his nerves. Why exactly he was so nervous, he couldn’t quite say. He was pointedly ignoring thinking about what Stan and Ben had said. He definitely didn’t like Eddie anymore, that was years ago. They were adults now. Proper grown ass adults, who just needed help with their English homework. No ulterior motive here, no sir. 

Richie ran up the stairs past some kids with a boombox. When he reached the third floor he realized he didn’t actually know which room was Eddie’s, and had to ask around to figure it out. 

 

“You know, small angry gay kid, probably yelling about how loud the music is? Brown hair, cute little face like this when he’s angry,” Richie demonstrated this face to the blonde girl he was attempting to learn Eddie’s room number from. 

“Oh! Ya okay I know who you mean now. That’s a great impression actually,” the girl giggled. Richie smirked at this comment. “He’s in room 306, just down the hall, last one on your right. It’s the single.”

Richie mumbled a thanks and strolled down the hall towards Eddie’s room. He took a deep calming breath and began to tap an intricate knock on the door. Before he could finish the song he was tapping, he heard a distant call of, “It’s open!” 

Richie grabbed the handle and began talking before he had even finished entering the room. 

“So how the hell did you swing getting a single Eds? In my building you’re lucky if you get a double, most are three or more. I’m stuck with Stan The Man AND haystack, though it has its advantages, Stan keeps it tidy and Ben’s always around to make sure I remember to hand my assignments in, so really it’s probably a good thing. I don’t think I’d do well in a single, no one around to laugh at all my amazing jokes..” 

Richie trailed off, finally noticing that Eddie had his back turned to him and was clearly on the phone. 

“Oh shit sorry.” 

Eddie half turned towards him and held a finger up to signal that he needed a minute. 

Richie stuffed his hands into his pockets, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. He gave a quick glance around Eddie’s room, his eyes catching on photos of a smiling Eddie and Bev, and one of Eddie with his arms wrapped around Patrick. This made Richie’s stomach squirm uncomfortably, so he quickly cast around for something else to look at, while he pretended not to be able to hear Eddie’s phone call. 

“I’m so far behind I haven’t even picked out a theme for my English Lit term paper.” Eddie sighed into the phone. “I don’t know how I’m going to get it all done before the end of term.” He paused to listen for a moment. “Of course I’m still coming out there for Christmas. I wouldn’t miss it, don’t worry. I just have to figure out how I’m going to get there. My mom will only pay if I go home to see her, and like hell that’s happening. No don’t worry, I’ll figure something out. Okay Pat, I gotta go now okay?” 

Richie plunked himself down on Eddie’s pristinely made bed and busied himself by rearranging the eight pillows so they were all slightly out of order, which was sure to drive him nuts. 

“Ya I can’t wait to see you either. I miss you too. Okay bye, love you.” 

Richie tried not to flinch at that, as Eddie put the phone down and turned towards him. 

Richie plastered a grin on his face. “Hiya Eds, how’s good ol’ Pat doing?” He sneered a little as the nickname crossed his lips 

Eddie sighed. “If you must know, he’s great. He’s going to be a lawyer you know.” 

Richie rolled his eyes. “Oh great, I bet he’s loads of fun. A real winner with your mom I bet.” 

“Did you just come here to make fun of me, or are we going to actually do our work, Rich?” Eddie asked exasperatedly. 

Richie jumped to his feet in a salute. “O Captain! My Captain!” 

“Alright, come on already would you,” Eddie pushed last Richie and made his way over to his backpack to get his paper out. “Give me your paper and I’ll see what we can do with this mess.” Eddie sat down on the bed on the opposite side from where Richie had been sitting. 

Richie quickly jumped back on the bed, causing the mattress to fling Eddie slightly in the air, earning him a very dirty look. 

Richie handed Eddie his paper, and did his best to sit quietly as Eddie read it through. He got a very dirty glare from Eddie when he tried to put his feet up on the bed, slowly lowering them back down with a sheepish grin. 

Eddie muttered to himself, writing small notes on Richie’s paper as he read it through. After a few minutes he finally looked up. 

Richie bounced up and down, unable to wait for a response. “So, it’s good right?” He looked at Eddie hopefully. 

Eddie gave him a deadpan stare. “It’s all one sentence. You have no punctuation whatsoever. This is extremely difficult to read.”

“So?”

“It’s a mess! You never even stated your argument. You just talked about pizza for three pages!” Eddie’s voice was getting shrill. “You never even said that this was going to be a paper about pizza. You just started talking about cheese.”

“That’s completely inferred.”

“Implied, dumbass.”

“Whatever,” Richie shrugged. 

Eddie glared at him. Richie had had about enough of this. 

He jumped up suddenly, then proceeded to lean down into Eddie’s face. “Listen, what do you say we blow this off and go exploring? I’m gonna lose it if I have to hear about grammar anymore.”

“Are you for real? It’s been literally five minutes, what the fuck.” 

“Come on Eddie Spaghetti, remember what the prof said, you gotta start experiencing life so you can write about it. It’s way too stuffy in here, let’s go get some air.” With that Richie gathered up his and Eddie’s notes and made his way to the door, not looking to see if Eddie was following. Richie knew he would. 

Eddie grumbled and swore under his breath, before grabbing his jacket and following Richie down the hall. 

Richie stopped at the other end of the hallway by a door marked ‘Stairs to Roof, Do Not Enter.” With a grin he opened the door and gestured for Eddie to go first. 

“We can’t go in there,” Eddie pointed to the sign with a frown. 

“Sure we can. This is America, we can do whatever the hell we want. Come on Ed’s, live a little.” 

“Don’t call me that,” Eddie grumbled, looking indecisive. 

“Suit yourself. Have fun down here by yourself.” With that Richie went through the door and began climbing the stairs.

Eddie sighed again, and began to slowly climb after him. Every second floor he would let out a small moan of “we shouldn’t be in here.” It fell on deaf ears. Richie just kept on climbing until they had climbed past the fourteenth floor and reached the door to the roof. 

“After you, my good sir,” Richie put on his English Butler voice, bowing deeply and gesturing for Eddie to go through. 

Eddie pushed past him with a shove to the shoulder and a murmur of “idiot.” 

He shut up once he saw the view from the roof. It was breathtaking, the lights of the city glowing around them.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Richie walked up to stand beside Eddie, and looked down over the balcony. 

Eddie let out a breath. “Ya it really is,” a small smile played at his lips. 

“Hey Eds, remember when we used to lay in your backyard and look at the stars and try to name them all, but we didn’t know any of their actual names so we just made them up?” He smiled fondly at the memory of little Richie and Eddie stargazing together. 

Eddie snorted. “Oh I remember. If I remember correctly you tried to name most of them some variation of ‘your mom’. You weren’t very original.” 

“Hey! I take offense to that! Remember that one?” He pointed to a small star to the left. “That’s Matt remember? And that one over there beside it is Steve.” 

Eddie chucked. “Oh ya. Why did we name them all such boring things. Half of them were named after guys from our class weren’t they? I have no idea why we did that.” 

Richie laughed loudly, “I think young Richie and Eddie were a little bit too gay for their own good.” 

Eddie gave him a strange look at that comment, which Richie saw out of the corner of his eye. He was decidedly not looking at Eddie. 

“What?” He questioned Eddie’s look, not able to figure out which part of what he said was causing it. 

Eddie looked away quickly. “No, nothing. I just hadn’t officially heard that before. The gay thing, I mean..” he trailed off awkwardly. 

“Oh,” Richie said, slightly surprised. “I mean I’m bi, but ya I thought you would have heard. Especially with you still hanging out with Mike and all that..” 

“I mean I heard rumours and stuff, but I didn’t know for sure. You know how people can be.. and Mike doesn’t really talk about you guys much. You know him, he’s too respectful for gossip or anything like that.” 

Richie chuckles. “Ya, that sounds like our Mikey boy.” He smiled softly, thinking of how much he missed his friend. 

Eddie caught the smile, and couldn’t help from smiling himself. “You must miss them a lot, huh? Mike and Bill, I mean. You guys were pretty inseparable.” 

“Every damn day, Spaghetti Man, every damn day. I’m going to visit them at Christmas though, so it’s alright. No need to be sad for old Tozier.” He bumped Eddie’s shoulder playfully, earning a small laugh from him. 

“I wasn't sad for you, I was thinking about poor Ben and Stan having to room with you without Bill and Mike to help keep you in line.” 

Richie barked a laugh, “Don’t you worry Eds, Stan does a perfectly fine job of yelling at me. Even Ben’s taken to telling me off once in a while, which is new for him. I got a good talking to this afternoon when I took off after you, with the football from our game, right in the middle of playing.”

Eddie giggled. “A scolding from Ben, now that’s something I’d pay to see. Didn’t think he had it in him.” 

“Ya well, he’s grown up a lot since freshman year, he’s much more assertive now.” 

Eddie’s face fell slightly. “Ya that’s true. I guess I don’t really know any of you guys that well anymore.” 

Richie’s heart broke ever so slightly at those words. “Oh come on Eds, that’s not true.” He leaned his shoulder into Eddie’s, feeling his warmth seep through his shirt, and making him feel a little strange. 

“Once you’ve seen each other in your tighty whities there’s just no going back,” he said solemnly, “you’re friends for life after that.” He cracked a smile, to make sure Eddie knew he was kidding around. 

Eddie smiled, looking up at him. “Ya? You really think we can be friends again after so many years?”

Richie finally looked Eddie in the eyes, trying not to be obvious about how dry his throat had just gotten. “Of course Eds.” He tried to keep a joking tone, but couldn’t help the sincerity that crept into his voice. 

Eddie broke into a grin that made Richie’s heart skip a beat. “Okay good, cause I’ve missed you.” 

He didn’t know what made him do it. Sometimes his body did things before his brain could catch up and make him stop. One second he was looking at Eddie smiling, the next Richie was leaning forward trying to kiss him. 

He only got about half way there, before Eddie jumped back like he had been burned. His eyes were wide, and he looked panicked. 

“What the hell Richie?!” 

Richie had absolutely no response. His brain was just catching up and realizing what he had just done. The colour drained from his face. 

“You can be such a dick, you know that?” Eddie yelled, gathering up his things and turning back towards the door. 

“Eds wait!” Richie tried to start after him, unsure of what he could say to fix it. “I was just joking, don’t leave, c’mon!” 

“Oh just fuck off, Tozier.” With that Eddie yanked the door open and stomped through it. “And don’t follow me.” 

Richie stood staring at the door Eddie had just disappeared though, wondering how the hell he had managed to fuck that up so badly. 

“Well that’s just fucking fantastic.”


	5. Chapter 5

Monday morning, Richie was abruptly awoken by a pillow slamming into the back of his head. 

“Richie, wake up!” 

“Wazzit?” Richie blinked rapidly, trying to get his eyes to focus. His face was in his Spanish textbook. He must have passed out while studying the night before. He was still dressed in his clothes from Sunday, and his back was sore from sleeping hunched over. He looked around to see Stan glaring at him from his bed. 

“Don’t you have a class at nine?” Stan asked with a frown. 

Rubbing his eyes, Richie stretched and yawned. “Yeah, why, what time is it?” 

“Ten to nine.” 

“Goddamnit!” Richie launched himself off the floor, shoving his English notes into his backpack. He took two seconds to glance in the mirror and decided he should definitely put on a hat before leaving. He didn’t have time to brush his teeth, so he grabbed Ben’s mouthwash off his desk and took a big swig. 

“Oh that’s disgusting Richie,” Stan said disapprovingly, from across the room. “I’m telling him you did that.”

Richie looked around desperately for somewhere to spit, but finding no solution, decided to just go ahead and swallow the mouthwash. Which was definitely a bad idea, it burned the entire way down. He gagged, and shook his shoulders loose, before heading to the door. 

“Why are you like this?” He heard Stan mutter as he ran out the door. 

 

Richie was stopped short in his flat out run to class, when he caught sight of Eddie. Richie was a floor up, and could see Eddie walking past, in the direction of their classroom, on the sidewalk below. Without stopping to think it through, Richie vaulted himself up and over the railing, landing with a thump on the ground below, just feet behind Eddie. 

A sharp pain travelled up his legs, so he stopped to shake his ankles out quickly, before jogging to catch up with Eddie. 

“Eds! Hey, Eds!” Richie knew Eddie could hear him, but clearly wanted to proceed ignoring him. He ran around, and in front of Eddie, turning around to block his path. 

“Eddie, please come on, talk to me. I’m really sorry about Friday night, I didn’t mean anything by it I swear. I promise it won’t happen again!” He tried to be as sincere as possible, letting Eddie see how much he really meant the apology. 

Eddie looked at him finally, and seemed to see the genuine regret on Richie’s face. Eddie rolled his eyes, sighing, but smiling slightly. “Alright idiot, come on, we’re gonna be late for class.” With that, he continued his walk to the classroom. 

Richie fist pumped the air, and took off after Eddie, catching up to him just before he walked through the door. 

 

Things with Eddie were tentative for the next few weeks. Exams were coming up, so they didn’t see a lot of each other outside of class. Eddie continued to sit in the seat beside Richie every English class, but was so focused on taking his ridiculous notes that he barely spoke to Richie at all. 

Richie kept trying to be friendly, and managed to set up a few study sessions with Eddie, to keep working on their English papers. Unfortunately, Eddie was so stressed that it ended in a fight nearly every time. Eddie would snap at Richie over nothing, Richie would get defensive, which only made Eddie more irritated, and it would inevitably end with one of them storming off in a huff. 

It was after one of these infuriating study sessions that Richie found himself sitting on the ground outside of his dorm room, grumpily devouring a sandwich. He had been kicked out of the room, or as Ben phrased it “politely asked to leave until he chilled out”, by an irritated Stan. 

He didn’t really blame them, if he was being honest. He had stormed in, yelling about how frustrating Eddie was, and refused to be quiet even though Stan was cramming for an exam that evening. He probably would have kicked himself out too. That didn’t stop him from moping, though. 

“Thinks he’s so fucking smart,” Richie mumbled to himself, angrily taking a bite of his sandwich. “Oh I’m Eddie, and I’m such a goddamn genius that I don’t even know how to write a basic English paper without sounding like a robot.” Richie imitated Eddie in a shrill high pitched voice, spewing pieces of sandwich as he did so. 

He was in the process of giving the window down the hall a very nasty look for having the audacity to let the sun in, when Stan opened the door. 

“If you’re just about done having conversations with yourself, there’s a phone call for you,” he said dryly. 

Richie sighed. It was probably his mother with yet another guilt trip about Christmas. “Who is it?”

Stan walked out, carrying the room phone, dragging the cord under the door so it would reach Richie. He passed over the base before replying, “Bill,” and promptly turning on his heel and going back inside, locking the door behind him. 

Richie rolled his eyes at that, but couldn’t bring himself to be annoyed with the news of who was on the phone. He grabbed the receiver and began yelling before he even had it to his ear. 

“Big Bill!”

“Hey Rich!” He heard Bill laugh at Richie’s enthusiasm. 

“How the hell are ya?” Richie was beaming, he had really missed the sound of Bill’s voice. 

“I’m great actually. Done all my classwork, just cramming for two more exams and then I’m home free for the holidays!”

“What about old Mikey boy? How’s he doing? He doesn’t wanna hear my beautiful voice?” 

“Mike’s a little stressed right now, he has a huge exam tomorrow. He’s been in the library for two days straight, I can’t get him to come out,” Bill said dejectedly. 

“Yikes. Ya, it’s best not to bother him when he gets like that.”

“It’s kind of unsettling actually. He gets so focused that I can sit there talking his ear off, and it’s like he doesn’t even hear me.”

“Well you’re clearly not trying hard enough then old boy. Want some tips on ways to irritate him into paying attention to you? You’re speaking to the master.” 

Bill snorted. “Don’t I know it. He’ll be fine though, a few more days and he’ll be on break as well and able to finally relax. I don’t think I need to resort to Richie tactics quite yet. I’ll keep you updated.” 

Richie barked a laugh, making a girl leaving her room down the hall jump. She gave him a dirty look before turning the corner. 

“What about you though Rich? How’ve you been? I haven’t heard from you in a little while. Stan says you’ve been stressed out… he mentioned something about Eddie...” He trailed off awkwardly, not knowing how to ask what he wanted to know. 

Richie let out a long, loud groan, and banged his head back against the door. 

“Well I’m currently on the floor outside of our room cause good ol’ Staniel locked me out, it that’s what you mean.” 

“Ya he told me. He said you wouldn’t shut the fuck about Eddie, and it was either kick you out or punch you.” 

“Great guy that Stan, so caring about his friends problems.” Richie rolled his eyes to the ceiling, wishing Bill could see so he could understand the depths of his irritation. “I’m rolling my eyes real hard over here, just so you know Billy.”

Bill laughed. “I mean to his credit, it sounds like you’ve been yelling about Eddie a lot.” 

“I’m not really sure what you’re implying with that tone William.”

“You know exactly what I’m implying Dick. You’re obsessing over Eddie. This is freshman year all over again, and I think everyone is getting pretty sick of it by now.” 

Richie threw his hands up in frustration. “I didn’t even do anything Bill! Eddie’s the one who’s driving me crazy! I’m trying so hard to be nice to the kid, and all he does is get snippy with me. I mean I said I was sorry, and he said he forgave me, so I don’t get what the problem is! God, you try to kiss someone ONE TIME..” 

“You did WHAT?” Bill interrupted, before Richie could get any further into his rant. 

Richies eyes grew wide. He definitely had forgotten that he’d decided not to tell anyone about that. His damn stupid mouth, not knowing when to shut up. 

“Uhhh..”

“Richie.”

“Yes Billy?”

“Did you try and kiss Eddie?”

“...Possibly.”

“Richie.”

“Yes Bill?”

“Why the fuck would you do that?”

Richie groaned loudly, “I don’t know okay! I didn’t mean to! It just sort of happened. You know how I can be sometimes, I don’t think things through. One second we’re standing there looking at the stars and talking about when we were kids, the next thing I know, he’s running away from me.” Richie dropped his head into his hands, pulling at his hair in frustration. “I’m such an idiot.” 

Bill sighed, “You’re not an idiot Rich, you’ve always been like this with Eddie. You two do this whole back and forth thing all the time. I just…” 

Richie sighed. “What, you just what?” 

“I don’t know man, I just don’t think it’s healthy. You’ve had a weird fixation on Eddie since we were kids. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but I think you need to hear this. You tried to kiss him, Eddie wasn’t into it, I think you need to move on dude.” 

Richie chewed on his lip, thinking over Bill’s words, getting lost in thoughts of Eddie.

“Richie?”

“Huh? What?”

“Okay. I know when you stop talking that somethings actually wrong. You need to get your mind off of Eddie man, you’re spiraling.”

“I am not!” 

“Richie, I’ve known you since you were in the fourth grade. I know when you’re spiraling. Don’t make me drag Stan into this conversation.” 

This finally got a small chuckle out of Richie. “Ugh. Ya, you might have a point. But how the hell am I supposed to get my mind off of Eddie when I see him at least three times a week?”

“Well it’s only two more weeks until Christmas break. You’re still coming to spend it with me and Mike right?”

“Ya of course, Billy. I’ve missed your ugly mugs. Well that’s not quite true, Mike has a very handsome mug. So it’s just your ugly mug I’ve missed.” 

Bill laughed. “Don’t let Stan hear you say that, he might get all jealous that you’re trying to steal his man.” 

Richie gave a loud laugh. Behind him he heard the door open, and Ben peeked his face out. 

“I’ve been asked to politely tell you to keep it down..”

“I think I said, tell him to shut the fuck up, actually Ben,” Stan’s voice called from inside the room. 

“Sorry,” Ben gave Richie a sheepish smile, before ducking back inside. 

Richie grinned, “Good one Big Bill, you got me in trouble with Mom and Dad.” 

Bill laughed loudly, “Which one is Ben?”

“He’s Mom, of course.”

“Why of course?”

“Because Stan is Daddy obviously.”

Bill snorted. “You’re such an idiot. I don’t know why I talk to you.” 

“Because I’m hilarious of course.” 

“Okay, anyway idiot, about Christmas. I think I might have something that will cheer you up.”

Richie squinted his eyes at the phone, sensing a trap. “Okay..”

“It’s nothing bad I swear! Just kind of awkward for me to ask you about.” 

“Well now you’re freaking me out.” 

“No, no, I swear it’s not bad! Okay so you remember at the end of summer party, how you were complaining about your love life and blah blah blah?” 

“Well that’s a terrible way of summing up a riveting conversation but sure, whatever you say Billiam.” 

“And remember a few weeks ago when you were talking about how you’ve only ever slept with girls, but never with a guy, even though you really want to, because everyone at your school is, I believe you said ‘a bunch of uptight nerds’?”

“Yes…” Richie replied hesitantly, not exactly liking where this conversation was going. 

“Okay good. So here’s the thing. I met this guy.” 

“Like a guy for you?”

“No, not a guy for me idiot, keep up. His name’s Adam. He’s pretty cool. If I’m being honest he reminds me a little of Eddie, if he was taller and calmer.” 

Bill paused, clearly waiting for a response. Richie squinted his eyes at the phone, but didn’t say anything, so Bill just continued. 

“Right, so he lives in my dorm, and we’ve kinda become friends over the last few weeks. And a few days ago I casually mentioned being bi, and he got really excited, and told me he was gay. Like apparently he hadn’t really told anyone before, he’s not fully out yet, or anything like that. But it was cute, he’s really sweet. So anyway, we were talking, and he told me he’s never been with a guy before, but he really wants to. But he doesn’t want it to be with a complete stranger, cause that’s kinda scary, you know. So I was thinking..” 

“Bill, what did you do?”

“Well, I showed him a picture of you, and he said you’re really hot. And I told him about how obnoxious you are, and he said that you sound charming. I’m not quite sure what’s wrong with him if he thinks that, but from everything I know about both of you I think you’d really hit it off. So I was thinking that maybe when you came here for Christmas..” 

“Okay, hold up, are you telling me you want me to hook up with your friend at Christmas?”

“I mean you don’t have to! It just kinda seemed perfect, it would be a great way for you to get over all this Eddie stuff.”

Richie tapped his fingers against his leg, thinking. “So he wouldn’t want to like, date or anything?”

“Nope. He literally just wants to hook up with someone cool, and trustworthy, over the break. That’s it.” 

“Why do I feel like this is a trick?” 

“It’s not a trick, Rich, I promise. Trust me, he’s cool, and I think it would be good for both of you. And he’s definitely into it, it’s a sure thing.”

“A sure thing?”

“A sure thing.”

Richie thought it over. On the one hand he clearly still had a thing for Eddie. No amount of irritation was making that go away. But on the other hand, Bill was right, and he really did want to try and get over it. He hated being all moody and hung up over Eddie the way he was, it was making his life, and his friends lives, a living hell. And it had been a rather long time. Plus, it would be nice to not have to try so hard for once. This Adam guy already liked him from the sounds of it, so he wouldn’t have to spend weeks trying to impress him. A sure thing sounded really good right about now. 

“You know what Billy, I think that’s actually a great idea.” 

“Really? You aren’t mad?”

Richie laughed. “You know I can never stay mad at you Billy boy. Seriously though, I think you’re right, this could be really good for me. It’s probably exactly what I need to move the fuck on with my life.” He was getting more into the idea the longer he thought about it.

Richie could almost hear Bill’s smile through the phone. “Okay great! I think it’ll be good. You’re gonna have the best time out here Rich, honest. California is amazing. There’s gonna be fantastic parties! Mike is really popular around here, not surprisingly, and gets invited to the best places. One of his friends has a beach house that we’re all gonna go to on Christmas Eve!”

Richie grinned. “Oh man, I can’t wait Billy, partying it up in California with my best buds. My boy Bill finding me hot dudes. What more could a guy ask for?”

“You’re such a loser.” Bill laughed. “How are you getting here by the way? We haven’t actually talked about that?” 

Richie’s grin slipped from his face. “Ummm..” 

Bill groaned. “Richie, are you telling me the trip is two weeks from now, you’ve had literal months to plan this, and you haven’t even thought once about how you’re going to get here?”

Richie racked his brains quickly, trying to come up with a solution. Flying was obviously way too expensive, and he probably wouldn’t be able to get a ticket this close to Christmas anyway. The bus was most likely too expensive as well. Last time he checked he only had about 200$. He could try asking his parents, but he didn’t think that would go over very well.

He distantly heard Bill rambling on about travel options, but he couldn’t focus on the words. It came to him all of a sudden. He’d heard somewhere that there was a bulletin board where people posted for carpool drives for the holidays. 

“Gotta go Billy. Gotta go see a bulletin board about a ride.” 

“Rich, wait! What?”

“Bye love ya.” With that, Richie plunked the receiver back on the base, and put the phone in front of the door. He didn’t have the patience to deal with asking Stan to get back in, so he just decided to leave it. They’d find it eventually. 

He took off down the hall, and out of the building, in the direction he thought he remembered the bulletin board being. 

After stopping to ask a few students for directions, he eventually found it. He searched for a minute before he found what he was looking for. 

Los Angeles, California.  
Two seats available.  
Will split gas and hotel rooms evenly.  
Looking for clean quiet passengers.  
Call 998-1212 

Richie quickly ripped one of the slips with the number on it off the board, then took off back to his room to give them a call. 

 

Two weeks later, Richie was even more excited for his trip. He was done his exams, his duffle bag was packed, and he had said goodbye to Stan and Ben earlier that morning. 

He stood outside Lipton Dining Hall, bouncing on the balls of his feet, attempting to keep warm in the chilly December air. He checked his watch one more time. He had arranged to meet the couple, Jim and Maria, at 10:00am. He was so excited, he showed up extra early, so it was still only 9:55am. 

Richie kicked some snow, trying to amuse himself as he waited. After a few minutes, he heard a honk, and looked up to see a very enthusiastic girl hanging out the window of a blue car, waving at him. 

“Are you Richie?” She called in a sing song voice. 

Richie strolled over to the car, looking at the girl very sceptically. “Uhhh, yep that’s me.” 

“I’m Maria! And this is Jim,” she gestured to the boy sitting beside her in the driver's seat. 

“Nice to meet ya!” Jim reached over and shook Richie’s hand very enthusiastically. This did not bode well for how this trip was going to go. 

“Right, thanks, I’ll just get in the back then.” Richie was eager to avoid any more eye contact with those people. 

He pulled open the back door and leaned inside. There was someone else back there, who lowered their book as he climbed in. 

Richie plunked himself down on the seat, turned to his left, and made direct eye contact with Eddie Kaspbrak. 

Eddie let out a long sigh. “You gotta be fucking kidding me.”


	6. Chapter 6

“Eddie, this is Richie.”

“And Richie, this is Eddie.”

Jim and Maria looked between the two of them, smiling excitedly. 

“I knew I should have taken the bus,” Eddie mumbled. 

Richie glared at him. “What, and end up sitting next to some sleazebag?”

Eddie gave him an unimpressed look. 

“Okay, beside some sleazebag that you don’t know?” 

Eddie rolled his eyes. 

“Oh, do you two know each other?” Maria asked, looking uncertainly between the two. 

“Ya, we’re old friends.”

Eddie gave a sharp laugh. “Hardly. We’re old acquaintances.” 

Richie groaned. “Really Eds, we’re gonna be like that?” 

“Very distant acquaintances,” Eddie added, turning towards the window. 

“Kids, come on, let’s not argue. This is gonna be a fun trip!” Jim said in an overly cheerful voice that made Richie’s skin crawl just a little. 

“Do you guys know any show tunes?” Maria grinned at them. 

Richie honestly couldn’t figure out if she was being serious. His blank stare clearly gave her all the answers she needed, as she turned back around, awkwardly switching on the radio. She fiddled for a moment, putting in a cassette tape. 

Apparently she wasn’t joking about the show tunes. A song from some musical Richie didn’t recognize, but instantly disliked, began pouring from the speakers. 

Maria and Jim looked at each other, and simultaneously began to belt out the lyrics. 

Richie couldn’t help but glance over at Eddie to gage his reaction. Eddie had the same unimpressed, dead eyed stare, that Richie was sure was plastered on his own face. 

As soon as Eddie noticed him looking, he shifted around to look out the window again, his back to Richie. 

Great, that was just great. His road trip to get over Eddie was off to a fantastic start - with Eddie in the car, and ignoring him, and only a couple of show tune singing lunatics for company. Richie slumped down in his seat, deeply regretting responding to that ad. 

 

Four hours. That was how long Jim and Maria kept up their incessant singing. Four hours of no breaks, no food, and no relief from the music. Richie wanted to scream. Eddie seemed just as frustrated, his back was very tense, and any time Richie had managed to catch a glimpse of his face, he wore a scowl. 

Eventually they made a stop for lunch. When everyone was inside, Richie told Jim he forgot something in the car and would be back in a second. 

He bolted outside, opened the drivers side door, and ejected the tape. He glanced up at the window of the restaurant to make sure no one was watching, before he began pulling the magnetic tape out of the cassette. He twisted it around to make sure there was no way they would be able to fix it without tools, and shoved it back in. He replaced the tape in the cassette player, then did a quick examination of the rest of the car to make sure there were no other tapes hiding anywhere. 

Satisfied with his handiwork, he closed the car door and skipped back into the restaurant. Eddie broke his streak of not speaking to Richie to ask why he looked so damn smug, but promptly went back to ignoring him when Richie refused to respond. 

He got his answer twenty minutes later, when they were back in the car, and Maria attempted to play the music. 

“Jim, honey, the music won’t work!” Maria’s voice much more shrill than it needed to be. 

“Here dear, let me see, I’m sure it just needs a little jiggle and it’ll work swell.” He ejected the cassette with a smile, which promptly dropped when he saw the mess of tape. Some of the tape was stuck in the cassette player, and unraveled more as he pulled it out. 

“Oh goodness!” Maria put her hand over her mouth. “On no! It’s ruined!” 

Jim frowned at the tape. “Looks like it.” 

“Well darn,” Richie shook his head, trying his hardest to seem sad. “That’s such a shame. Boy, oh boy. I wonder how that happened. A real tragedy that is.”

Eddie snorted, but quickly covered it up with a cough when Maria turned to look at him. His shoulders were shaking with silent laughter as he turned to Richie and mouthed, “Thank you”. 

Richie winked at him. The car fell into a blissful silence. 

 

By eleven that night they were all tired, so they pulled into the first motel they could find. The Knotty Pine motel was a shabby old place, but Richie couldn’t complain at that point. He was wiped from an entire day of show tunes, and staying as quiet as he possibly could to avoid irritating Eddie. It was exhausting, and he was ready to pass the fuck out. 

They managed to get a room with two double beds. Richie called dibs on first use of the bathroom, and went to get ready for bed. 

When he left the bathroom, he found Jim and Maria in one bed, and Eddie laying with his book in the other. Richie jumped, launching himself onto the empty spot of the bed beside Eddie. 

Eddie’s tiny frame bounced about a foot in the air at the impact. He let out a yelp, as he scrambled to stay on the mattress. 

Richie grabbed a pillow and started getting comfortable. 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” 

Richie turned around to face Eddie, who was glaring at him. 

“Going to bed?” 

“Not with me you’re not!” 

“Eds, I’m not going to bed with you, I’m going to bed in a bed that you happen to be in also.” 

“Nope, no way, not happening.” 

Richie rolled his eyes. “Eds, c’mon, I won’t bother you, I swear. I’ll stay over here on my own side. You won’t even know I’m here.” 

“Nope, I’m serious Richie, no way. I worked out a schedule of who gets the beds, and tonight is your night to sleep on the floor. Get off.”

Richie stared at him. “Are you for real right now?” 

Eddie narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. 

“Eddie, we used to share a bed all the time when we were kids, what’s the big deal?” 

“I worked out a schedule.” 

“Well it’s not my schedule!” 

“You’re really going to sleep on the bed?”

“Of course I’m going to sleep on the bed!” 

“Fine,” Eddie snapped. He stood up, gathering his blankets and his pillows. “Then I guess I’ll sleep on the floor.” 

“You don’t have to sleep on the floor Eddie.” 

“Do you intend to sleep on the bed?” 

“Yes, I do.” 

“Well then I intend to sleep on the floor.” He grabbed the pillow that Richie had put behind his head. His head fell back, slamming into the headboard. 

“Ow, what the fuck was that for?” 

“Goodnight asshole,” Eddie mumbled from the floor. 

“Would you two please be quiet!” Jim whispered loudly, while Maria shushed them. 

Richie reached over to turn off the light. “Night Eds.” 

 

The next morning was off to a bad start. Eddie was extra grumpy, claiming his back was sore from his night on the ground. 

“No one said you had to sleep on the floor,” Richie pointed out, helpfully. 

“I’m not talking to you.” Eddie pushed past him into the car, using his jacket as a pillow to lay against the window. 

Maria laughed nervously. “Let’s not have any fighting today boys, fun trip, remember?” 

Richie sighed, climbing in after Eddie. 

They hadn’t stopped for breakfast, and Richie was starving, so he pulled some snacks out of his duffle bag. 

“Cheese puffs anyone?” 

Jim and Maria declined politely. 

“Eds?” Richie shoved the bag in front of Eddie’s face. 

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Oh, great breakfast.” 

“It’s cheese. Protein. It’s good for you.” 

Richie reached back in his bag and pulled out a can of coke. He opened it, managing to only spill a little on his pants, an impressive feat in the bumpy car. 

He caught Eddie looking at him. He held the can out, indicating for Eddie to have some if he wanted to. 

“You are unbelievable,” Eddie scoffed, shifting as far away from Richie as he could. 

“Boys, please,” Maria started. 

Before she could say any more, a series of honks sounded from the car beside them. A green Jeep had pulled up adjacent to them, and someone inside was mooning them. This guy was full on mooning them, his ass half hanging out the window. 

Richie immediately burst into laughter. “Oh my god, this is amazing. YA BUDDY, WOOOO!” Richie pumped his fist, leaning over Eddie to get a better look, and cheering. 

Eddie shoved at his shoulder, trying to get him to move. “Are you for real right now? Why do you have to be so immature?” 

“What the hell’s your problem?”

“It’s stupid!” 

“It’s stupid,” Richie couldn’t resist mocking him. “Everything’s stupid with you. Why can’t you just lighten up for once in your damn life? Alright ya, it’s stupid. So what? It’s also hilarious. What’s wrong with being stupid every once in a while?” 

Eddie scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“I mean, damn Eddie, remember when you were a kid and you liked to have fun. Remember that concept, fun? Don’t you ever just do something just cause you feel like it, even if it’s stupid? What happened to that kid who used to throw rocks at trains with me? That was stupid! But it was fucking fun, and you know it.”

“Jim, they’re at it again. I can’t take much more of this,” Maria muttered from the front seat. 

“When was the last time you let yourself have any fucking fun Eddie?” Richie continued. “Don’t you ever just let yourself go? Don’t you remember how great it feels when you do something totally spontaneous, something totally off the wall?” 

“Jim, do something please!” Maria hissed. 

Eddie was becoming more visibly riled up by the second. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. “Spontaneity has a time and a place. That time is not now, and that place is not this car,” he hissed. 

“Jim!” Maria whined. 

“Jesus Eddie, when did you get so damn repressed.” 

“I am not repressed!” Eddie’s voice was becoming shrill again. 

Richie cocked an eyebrow at him. 

“I am not! I can be spontaneous, you ass.” 

Richie scoffed. “Okay, prove it.” 

Eddie’s face was getting redder by the second. “I don’t have to prove anything to you, Tozier.” 

“Oh of course. And that has absolutely nothing to do with how fucking repressed you are.” 

“I AM NOT REPRESSED!” 

“JIM!” Maria was shouting now too. 

“It’s sad, honestly. You used to be so fun. Now you’re such an uptight little shit, who doesn’t know how to have any fun.” 

“You don’t have to be stupid to have fun!” 

“That’s exactly what an uptight little shit would say.” Richie shrugged, knowing he was driving Eddie to his breaking point. 

“Oh ya? Would someone who isn’t any fun do this?” With that, Eddie promptly undid his seatbelt, rolled down his window, stuck his ass out the window and pulled down his pants. 

“Oh my God!” Maria yelled. 

The other car honked at them, the guys in the other car began cheering and hollering. 

Eddie shook his ass back and forth in the window and began shouting. “You like that boys? Take a good look. That’s the finest piece of ass you’re gonna see today.” 

Richie began screaming with laughter. 

“Sit down! Oh my god!” Jim yelled, swerving into the left lane as he tried to reach back and pull Eddie into his seat. 

Everyone in the car was yelling so loudly, it took a few seconds for them to hear the siren. 

“Oh shit.” Eddie was the first one to notice the flashing red and blue lights of the police car behind them. He hastily pulled up his pants and sat back down in his seat, sheepishly doing up his seatbelt. 

“Well that’s just perfect.” Jim grumbled, pulling the car over to the side of the road. 

Richie was still laughing. 

 

“Indecent exposure, driving so as to endanger.” The officer listed off offences as he wrote up tickets for Jim. 

Richie couldn’t resist poking his head out from the back seat. “Driving with the load not properly tied down,” he offered helpfully. 

Jim turned to glare at him. “We’re very sorry officer, thank you.” 

“Just be more careful, in future. Any maybe choose better company,” the officer said with a pointed look at Richie. 

The officer drove away, leaving Jim looking very frazzled. 

“Okay, that’s it,” Jim mumbled, marching around to the back of the car. He opened up the trunk, grabbing Richie and Eddie’s bags and dumping them on the side of the road. 

“Woah, woah, Jimmy boy, what’re you doing?” Richie unbuckled his seatbelt and jumped out of the car. 

Eddie looked up at Richie’s exclamation, and got out of the car as well when he saw the bags. 

“Jim, what’re you doing!” Richie and Eddie looked at each other, not yet grasping what was happening. 

“Maria, lock the doors!” Jim shouted to his girlfriend. 

That’s when Richie started to panic. “Jim, buddy, what’re you talking about? We’re sorry okay, we didn’t mean anything by it.” 

Jim pushed past him, moving to the driver’s seat. Eddie stood frozen in place. 

“Jim, come on man, be reasonable. You can’t leave us here! Please, come on, we’ll shut up, I promise!

Jim climbed into the driver's seat. “Lock the doors Maria!” 

Richie grabbed hold of the drivers door handle, pleading, “Jim please, come on, please don’t do this. We’ll sing show tunes with you if that’s what you want!”

Jim slammed the door, narrowly avoiding Richie’s fingers. He started the car. 

Without thinking, Richie climbed on the hood of the car to try and stop him from leaving. 

This didn’t stop Jim, who slammed on the gas. Richie lurched forward with the car, and then rolled off the side, landing on his ass on the pavement. 

Richie threw his hands in the air in shock. “FUCK!” 

Eddie walked up beside Richie and let out a long sigh. 

The two of them watched the car disappear over the hill in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come talk to me on tumblr!  
> beep—beep—eds.tumblr.com


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm changing the rating on this fic to be a little higher. Nothing actually happens, but I just wanted to give a trigger warning that someone has the intention of assaulting Eddie in this chapter. Nothing happens, but it's made very clear that the intent is there. Please don't read if that is something that would upset you!

It took a few minutes for the shock to wear off. Eventually Richie got up, dusting the dirt off his pants. 

He turned to face Eddie, whose face was completely blank. 

“They’ll be back. They’re just a little mad… but they’ll definitely be back.” 

Eddie continued to stare at the road. 

“Look, there’s a town not far from here. I saw a sign, we can hitch. It’ll be fine.” 

Eddie walked silently over to his bags, picked them up, and began marching down the road. 

Richie stared at his back, trying to sort out what the hell Eddie thought he was doing. 

“Where are you going?” He called after Eddie, who was making surprisingly good time down the road. 

Richie sighed in frustration, jogged back to grab his duffle bag, and took off after Eddie. 

“Eddie! Eds, where are you going?” 

Eddie stopped abruptly, causing Richie to run right into his back. He turned and glared at Richie. 

“I’m tired, it’s freezing, and we’re in the middle of nowhere! You stay and hitch! I’ve had enough of this shit. I’m walking.” 

“Eds, it’s almost 20 miles!” Richie tried to reason with him. 

“And don’t follow me!” Eddie spun on his heel and resumed his march along the side of the road. 

“Jesus, okay.” Richie waited a minute until Eddie was decently far ahead of him before crossing to the other side of the road and beginning to walk as well. 

 

Richie lasted for about an hour. He quickly outpaced Eddie, his legs being considerably longer, and eventually he could barely see Eddie in the distance. He walked until his feet burned, and his stomach was growling loudly. The sun was beginning to set, and Richie decided he had had just about enough. He plunked himself down on the side of the road, and pulled out his cheese puffs. 

Richie sat, absentmindedly eating, for over ten minutes, until Eddie finally made an appearance. He was a pretty depressing sight, suitcase dragging on the ground, coat open, red faced, but still shivering from the cold. 

He barely responded to seeing Richie. Eddie crossed the road so they were on the same side, but seemed like he was going to continue walking. After a few steps, however, he stopped and turned to look down at Richie. 

Richie held the bag out to Eddie. “May I offer you a cheese puff in this trying time?” 

“I fucking hate you.” Eddie dropped his bag and sat on the ground beside Richie, reaching in for a handful of cheese puffs and shoving them in his mouth angrily. 

Richie couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of Eddie with cheese dust all around his mouth, struggling to swallow his giant bite. 

Eddie glared at him. “What the fuck’s so funny?”

“You just..” Richie interrupted himself with a snort. “You’ve just got cheese stuff all over your face.”

Eddie quickly wiped his coat sleeve over his mouth to try and get rid of it, but missed the majority of it. Without thinking, Richie leaned over and wiped the dust away gently with his thumb, laughing quietly. 

He looked up from Eddie’s mouth and met his eyes, which were wide, and looked confused.  
Richie awkwardly cleared his throat, moving away quickly. He glanced around, trying to find something to talk about that didn’t involve Eddie’s lips. He grabbed the bag of cheese puffs, shoving another handful into his mouth. 

“Y’know Eds, junk food really doesn’t deserve the bad rap it gets. I mean take these cheese puffs.” Richie examined the nutritional label. “They have 1% of the recommended daily allowance of riboflavin.”

Eddie did not respond to this interesting fact, and continued to chew in silence. 

“You ever notice that there’s three kinds of junk food?” Richie continued to ramble on, counting them off in his fingers. “You’ve got your starchy, fried, greasy type. Then you’ve got..” 

“Jesus Christ, would you shut the fuck up!” Eddie exploded. “I don’t want to hear your thoughts on junk food right now!”

“Hey! What’re you yelling at me for? You didn’t have to come over here and sit down!”

Eddie glared at him. “Fine!” He jumped to his feet, grabbed his bag, and took off down the road again. 

“Holy shit, you’re so frustrating!” Richie dropped his head into his hands, pulling at his hair.

He looked up a few moments later, when he heard a truck engine. Eddie was angrily holding his thumb out, apparently open to the idea of hitching now. 

The truck pulled over in front of Eddie. A middle aged man in a suit and a cowboy hat leaned over and opened the door to ask where Eddie was heading. 

Richie instantly got a bad feeling about the situation. 

“I wouldn’t get in that truck if I were you,” he called to Eddie. 

Eddie whipped his head around to narrow his eyes at Richie. “Ya, well you’re not me.” He threw his bag in the bed of the truck, and climbed into the passenger seat. 

“God damn it,” Richie sighed. He couldn’t very well leave Eddie alone to go off in a truck with some creepy old guy. But there was no way Eddie was about to let him come in the truck. Sometimes that kid was too stubborn for his own good. 

Seeing no other option, Richie hopped up and jogged over to the truck, just as the man started the engine. Ducking low, hoping neither party inside noticed him, he quickly jumped into the bed of the truck. 

The truck jerked forward, and Richie was thrown to the side, hitting his hip on an oil drum. 

“Ow, fuck.” He wriggled around, trying to find a way to avoid being thrown around. He managed to jam himself between one of the oil drums and the side of the truck. Using as much of his non existent arm strength as he could, he pulled himself up into a crouch so he could peer into the bed of the truck. 

Through the dirty window he was able to see Eddie in the passenger seat. He strained his ears, trying to hear what was being said inside. He was able to hear Eddie faintly, and was not surprised in the least to hear that he was complaining about Richie. 

“I mean I hope he finds a ride, I don’t want him to be stranded on the road, but there’s only so much I can take. He’s driving me crazy.” 

The man nodded thoughtfully. “Ya, fights with your boyfriend can be real tough,” he said with a slight southern accent. 

Eddie whipped his head around to stare at the man. “He is NOT my boyfriend! He’s just a giant pain in my ass.” 

“Oh, my apologies, I just assumed from the way you were talking about him.” 

Eddie blanched. “What do you mean? I’ve barely said anything about him!” 

Right..” the man said slowly. “So how come he isn’t your boyfriend then?” He looked over at Eddie, running his eyes over his body. 

Richie’s eyes narrowed when he saw this. This guy was really giving him the creeps. 

Eddie let out a surprised cough. “It’s not..” he looked around the truck, as if trying to figure out how to word what he wanted to say. “It’s not like that.. We’re not like that.” 

He fell silent for a moment. Then, seemingly as an after thought, he continued. “Besides, I actually have a boyfriend. We’ve been together almost two years. That’s why I’m going to California actually, I’m visiting him at school. I haven’t seen him since August.”

The man’s eyebrow raised at this. “Oh? How does he feel about your little road trip with that boy? He doesn’t get jealous?”

Eddie flinched slightly. “I mean, I haven’t exactly told him about the whole thing, but I really don’t think he would care. He knows Richie as well… and like I said, we’re old friends, nothing more.” 

The man hummed thoughtfully, looking Eddie over again. “I get it, sometimes it’s better to keep things to yourself. Secrets are healthy in a relationship.” His eyes lingered on Eddie’s mouth. 

Eddie appeared to notice this, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. He didn’t seem to know how to respond. 

The man seemed to take Eddie’s silence for an invitation to continue talking. “I mean take me, for example. I’ve been married fifteen years. But I spend so much time on the road that I’m not really home with the wife much. And it gets so lonely on the road. What she don’t know don’t hurt her.” He gave Eddie a smile that he probably thought was charming, but made Richie want to throw up. This guy was clearly hitting on Eddie. 

Eddie seemed to realize this as well, shifting as far over to the window as possible. “I think it would probably still hurt her,” Eddie mumbled under his breath. 

Richie looked around, confused as to why the truck had started slowing down. Looking up, he noticed that the truck was pulling off onto the side of the road. This was not a good sign. 

Eddie seemed to share the sentiment. “Why are we pulling over?” he asked, hesitantly. 

The man didn’t respond, instead putting the truck in park and turning to face Eddie. 

Eddie shrunk in on himself even more, pressing his back against the window. “What are we doing?” 

“Like I said, it gets so lonely on the road,” the man gave Eddie a menacing smile. 

Eddie seemed frozen in place with fear. 

The man reached towards Eddie, caressing his cheek with his palm. “Maybe we could keep each other company for a while.” 

Richie took that as his cue to intervene. This creepy fuck was not going to lay a finger on his Eds. 

“Don’t you fucking touch me!” Eddie shouted, as the man grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling Eddie towards him. 

Richie jumped from the bed of the truck, and ran to the passenger side door. He yanked the door open and jumped inside, slamming the door closed after him. 

Both the man, and Eddie jumped with surprise. 

Richie schooled his features into his best “crazy person” face. 

“Boy oh boy, thanks for the ride fella, I’ve been out here all day,” Richie shouted, leaning over Eddie into the mans face. “I’m not interrupting anything am I?” 

The man frowned at him. Eddie visibly relaxed when he heard Richie’s voice, taking a deep calming breath. 

“We’re just having a little talk, okay?” The man said, trying to remain calm. “If you don’t mind leaving us be please.” 

“It’s not easy getting rides, you know what I mean,” Richie continued, pretending not to hear the man. “I mean most people are afraid to pick up hitchhikers. You never know who you could pick up. I mean, I could be some crazed slimeball!” Richie’s voice grew louder the longer he spoke, until he was practically shouting in the mans face. “I could be a real deranged violent psycho, you know what I mean? I mean a guy who would rip your heart out and eat it JUST FOR FUN! I’m talking about a total maniac.” 

The man flinched at Richie’s scream, shrinking back over to the drivers side window. 

“Do you know what i mean?” Richie yelled, “DO YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN?”

The man nodded frantically. “Yes, yes.” 

Richie whipped his head around, looking every which way, pretending to be looking for someone following him.

“Why aren’t we moving? We have to go before they find me.” 

The man blinked at him, unsure how to respond to Richie’s level of crazy. 

“What’s the matter?” Richie made his eyes go slightly crossed as he leaned back towards the man. “Don’t you wanna give me a ride?” 

Eddie smiled, trying to conceal it by turning his head to the right. 

The man looked extremely uncomfortable. “I’m only going about another mile..” He trailed off when Richie began pulling at his hair and yelling. 

“Then what the hell did you pick me up for! You think I got nothing better to do with my life than to sit here and pass the time with you!” Richie leaned all the way into the mans face, pressing their noses together. “SHIT BRAIN!” 

The man flinched away from Richie, eyes wide. 

Richie sat back, looking thoughtful. “You know, I don’t think I want this ride after all,” he whispered menacingly, before opening the door behind him. 

Leaning forward once more, he grabbed hold of Eddie’s arm. “And I think I’ll take your wife if you don’t mind.” 

Eddie grabbed Richie’s arm with both his hands, pulling himself forward until he was in Richie’s arms. Richie wrapped his arm protectively around Eddie, backing them both slowly out of the truck and out onto the road. Richie gave his best crazy laugh, before slamming the door of the truck. 

The man wasted no time, starting the truck immediately, and stomping on the gas. The tires spun.  
“Oh, Richie, our bags!” Eddie yelled, suddenly remembering their luggage that was still in the back of the truck. 

“Oh shit!” Richie jumped quickly into the bed of the truck, grabbing the bags and throwing them at Eddie’s feet. He managed to jump out, just as the truck started moving. Richie landed on the ground with a thump and skidded to a stop. He could instantly feel that he had scraped his shins and palms.

“Oh my god, Richie are you alright?” Eddie leaned down quickly, looping his arm around Richie’s back and helping him stand. 

“Right as rain, Eddie my dear, don’t you worry your pretty little head about me.” Richie tried to grin, but it quickly dissolved into a wince as his knees began to sting. 

Eddie saw the wince and looked down. His face paled when he saw the blood beginning to pool on Richie’s skin. 

Richie quickly backed away from Eddie, knowing how squeamish he was about blood. 

“It’s fine Eds, don’t worry. We’re all good.”

“Richie, come here. I need to clean those. And your hands too!” 

“Eds really, don’t worry, it’s no big deal!” Richie tried to hide his hands in his pockets, and looked down at his feet, avoiding Eddie’s gaze. 

“Richie you know, you’re really frustrating.” Eddie sighed. “You make it nearly impossible for anyone to be grateful for anything nice you do,” he said softly. 

Richie glanced up, expecting to find an irritated Eddie staring at him. Instead Eddie had a soft, concerned expression. Richie hadn’t seen Eddie look at him like that since he was a kid. His heart skipped a beat. 

When he didn’t respond Eddie sighed, and turned away to begin walking. 

“Eddie wait,” Richie reached out and grabbed his elbow, spinning him back around. “I’m sorry okay,” he said softly, studying Eddie’s face. He raised a hand to cup Eddie’s cheek, running his thumb down his jaw. “Are you okay?” 

Eddie smiled softly, his eyes crinkling. “Ya Rich, I’m okay.”

Without thinking Richie gathered Eddie in his arms and hugged him, leaning down and tucking his face in Eddie’s neck. Eddie froze for a moment before he returned the hug, tightly grabbing hold of the back of Richie’s jacket. 

“Thank you,” Eddie whispered. 

“I’m just glad you’re okay Eds, I don’t know what I would have done if anything happened to you,” Richie whispered into Eddie’s shoulder. He saw goosebumps appear where his breath ghosted across Eddie’s skin. 

Eddie’s face was pressed against Richie’s cheek, so he could feel Eddie begin to smile. They stood like that for a minute, holding each other tightly on the side of the road. 

Richie breathed in Eddie’s familiar scent. They hadn’t been this close to each other since freshman year, Richie felt waves of nostalgia roll over him. 

It happened so quickly he was almost sure he imagined it. He felt Eddie’s lips press against his cheek in a soft kiss, before Eddie pulled back to hold Richie at arm's length. 

Richie’s smile was so wide it made his cheeks ache. Standing on the side of the road, abandoned by their ride, with skinned knees, he had somehow never been happier. 

Eddie grinned back at him shyly. “Alright idiot, come here, let’s get you cleaned up.” 

Eddie took Richie’s hand, careful not to touch his palm where it was bleeding, and led him over to where his bag lay. He sat cross legged on the ground, pulling Richie down to sit across from him. 

He dug through his bag, producing bandaids, a water bottle, cotton pads, rubbing alcohol, and antibiotic cream. 

Richie couldn’t help but chuckle. “Travel light there Eds?” 

Eddie tried to suppress his smile. “You never know when your friend is going to be an idiot and need to be cleaned up.” 

Richie beamed. “Oh so we’re friends again now, are we? Not acquaintances anymore?” 

“Can it, Tozier,” Eddie laughed, “We gotta clean you up before you get infected.” 

They sat cross legged, facing each other. Eddie grabbed the rubbing alcohol and cotton pads. 

“Alright, now I don’t wanna hear any complaining,” Eddie said, leaning over to start clean Richie’s knees. 

“Wouldn’t dream of it Doc,” Richie said with a wink. 

The tips of Eddie’s ears turned pink, and he ducked his head down. He poured water over the wounds, then began to clean them with the rubbing alcohol.

“Ow, fuck, that stings!” 

“You’re such a baby, stop it! Sit still!” 

Richie was squirming, trying to get away from the cotton pad. 

Eddie rolled his eyes, got to his knees, turned around and sat himself on Richie’s legs. He applied pressure with his thighs to force Richie’s legs to stay still. 

Richie’s eyes went wide. “Ummm Eddie?”

“What?” Eddie mumbled, bending forward and continuing to clean Richie’s knees, as if this was perfectly normal behaviour. 

“Whatcha doin’? I mean, not that I’m complaining about having you in my lap or anything, but…” he trailed off, swallowing thickly. 

“You’re being a baby, and I know from experience asking you to sit still isn’t going to work.” Eddie said slowly, focusing hard on what he was doing. He reached forward, grabbing the antibiotic cream, and began to dab some over the newly sanitized scrapes. “Besides,” he continued, “I’m not on your lap, dumbass, I’m on your legs. Completely different.”

“Doesn’t seem that different,” Richie mumbled under his breath. 

Eddie smoothed four bandages over each knee to cover the area. “Okay, there. It’s not the best, we’ll need to get bigger bandages at some point to cover this more effectively, but it’ll do for now.” He crawled off Richie’s legs, avoiding his eyes, and sat back down across from him. 

“Okay time for your hands, give them here.” 

Richie stuck his hands out obediently, eyes on Eddie’s face. Eddie scrunched his nose as he concentrated, his tongue peeking out the side of his mouth. It was possibly the cutest thing Richie had ever seen. 

Eddie held the back of Richie’s hands gently, making quick work of cleaning them. Richie tried his absolute hardest to stay still. When Eddie finished, he lifted Richie’s left hand to his mouth, and pressed a kiss on his palm, over the bandaid. 

Richie thought his heart might burst. 

Eddie met his eyes finally, smiling shyly. “Sorry, that’s just what my mom always used to do for me.” 

Richie returned Eddie’s shy smile. “Thank you Eds.” He reached over and gently ruffled Eddie’s hair. 

Eddie laughed, pushing him off, and getting to his feet. He offered his hand out to Richie to help him up. 

Richie grabbed Eddie’s hand, and made a show of not being able to get up, putting his full weight on Eddie’s arm. Eddie tried his hardest to pull Richie up, but couldn’t, what with Richie’s dead weight and all the flapping around he was doing. 

Eddie tried to look angry, but failed miserably. “Fine, idiot, get up by yourself then,” he laughed, dropping Richie’s hands, letting him fall back into the dirt. 

Richie barked a laugh. “Okay, sorry, sorry! Come back.” He made grabby hands at Eddie until he took his hands again. This time when Eddie pulled, Richie sprang to his feet. He left his right hand in Eddie’s. 

Richie picked up both his and Eddie’s bags with his left hand, placing Eddie’s bag on his shoulder for him. Eddie smiled gently at him. 

“All right genius, where to now?”

“I think there’s a train station up ahead, are you okay to walk?” 

“You’re the one with the scraped knees, are you okay to walk?” 

“As long as I’ve got Doctor Eddie Spaghetti with me I’ll be just fine don’t you worry.” Richie grinned. 

“I’m gonna leave you behind if you don’t cut it out with the nicknames.”

“But then whose lap would you sit in?”

“I’m going to fucking kill you.” 

The pair began their walk down the road, the sky growing darker by the second. They continued to bicker as they went, neither one mentioning their hands that were still linked together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come talk to me on tumblr!  
> beep--beep--eds.tumblr.com


	8. Chapter 8

They walked in mostly silence for the next few hours. They were both too tired for much conversation. Eddie seemed lost in thought. As they passed their third field full of cows, Eddie finally voiced the thought that seemed to be bothering him. 

“Hey Rich?”

“Ya Eds?” Richie turned to look at Eddie. 

“Why did you get in the back of the truck?”

“Hmmm?”

“Why did you jump in the back, even after I ditched you? 

Richie squinted, trying to think of an explanation that wouldn’t freak Eddie out. 

Because it didn’t matter how mad they got, Richie would never leave him alone? Because he would follow him anywhere, and do anything to keep Eddie safe? Because it didn’t matter if Eddie didn’t want him, Richie would always try and make Eddie happy, even if that meant protecting him from his own dumb mistakes?

Richie shrugged, “I guess I’m just the kind of guy that likes to live on the edge.” He bumped Eddie’s shoulder playfully. 

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Not sure why I expected a serious answer.”

Richie’s smile fell. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t answer honestly, maybe it felt a little too honest. The companionship they felt now, walking down the road together, still felt tentative, and Richie was terrified of fucking it up. He didn’t want Eddie to leave again. Joking around felt safer, it’s what he had always done. 

He didn’t know how to tell Eddie how important he was, how necessary. He didn’t think there was a way to express the hole that Eddie had left in his life when they stopped being friends, and now that he was back in Richie’s life he finally felt as if he could breathe again. 

“Ya well, you know me Eds, couldn’t be serious if I tried,” he mumbled, eyes on the ground. 

Eddie hummed in response. “I think you like to think that, and you like to act like that, but we both know that’s not quite true.”

Richie smiled to himself. It was amazing really, they had barely spoken in over four years, yet Eddie still knew Richie. Eddie got him, understood him in ways few people did. How had he survived the last four years without Eddie Kaspbrak? The thought of going any more years without Eddie by his side made Richie’s heart ache. 

Unable to respond without giving away what he was feeling, he reached over and ruffled Eddie’s hair affectionately. 

Eddie looked like he was about to complain, but then his eyes widened in excitement. “Rich, look!” 

Richie turned his head to look where Eddie was pointing. There in the distance was the neon sign of a bus station. “Thank FUCK!” 

They smiled widely at each other, before picking up the pace, eager to get inside where it was warm. 

 

Inside the bus station, Richie rubbed his hands together furiously, trying to get the feeling back in his fingers. He hadn’t realized just how cold he had been until he felt the warmth of the building. His ears, nose and fingers were tingling as they adjusted to the heat. 

They joined the line in front of the window where the lone attendant was selling tickets. A glance at the clock told Richie it was already after 8:00pm. They had been walking a lot longer than he had thought. Richie looked around the station, seeing an alarming number of people asleep on the bench seats littered around the room. It was lucky the bus was arriving soon, or that would have been him tonight.

Eddie was bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, both from excitement and to warm himself up. Richie suddenly realized Eddie had been talking, and he hadn’t been hearing his words. 

“..can’t wait to put my seat back and curl up with my book, then get some sleep. I’m so exhausted. Do you think they have coffee anywhere around here? It’s a pretty long bus ride, and I don’t want to sleep the whole way or I won’t sleep tomorrow night.”

Richie nodded, trying to pretend he had in fact been listening to all of Eddie’s thoughts about the bus. Before Eddie could tell him off for clearly not listening, it was his turn at the window. 

“One ticket to Los Angeles please.”

“That’ll be $90.”

Richie’s mouth fell open when he heard this. He had been expecting the bus to be a little expensive, but not that much. In all the chaos of the day, he hadn’t really thought much beyond simply getting to the bus station. He reached in his pocket and took out the rest of his money. Counting it quickly, he felt his heart sink. He only had $20. Well, that was just fucking fantastic. There was no way he could get on the bus with Eddie. 

Eddie finished at the window, ticket in hand. He moved over to the side, waiting for Richie to take his turn. 

“Can I help you sir?” the attendant asked. 

Richie moved up to the window. “Oh, umm, no thank you. Just window shopping,” Richie tried to smile, but his heart wasn’t in the joke. The attendant didn’t seem impressed either. 

“Please move along then, sir.”

“Right, sorry.” Richie shuffled awkwardly over to Eddie. 

Eddie looked up at him expectantly. 

“You ready? Come on, I wanna get good seats. Is it okay if I take the window? I really want to see the sunrise in the morning, and I won’t be able to see it over your giant head if you’re in the window,” Eddie joked. He looked down at Richie’s empty hands and frowned. “Where’s your ticket Rich?”

Richie stuck his hands in his pockets awkwardly, looking at the ground. “You know, I decided I think I’m just gonna hitch the rest of the way. I’ll miss all the sights on the bus. The way I’m looking at it, I’m not getting any younger, this might be my last chance to see this beautiful country of ours. Wouldn’t want to miss that experience.” 

“Can you loan me a dollar?” Richie’s speech was interrupted by one of the men Richie had seen sleeping on the bench. The man slurred his words slightly as he spoke, and was wearing only a small jacket, suited more for spring than for winter. 

Richie gave him a small smile. “Sure, one second.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out his crumpled wad of money. 

“I only have a five, do you have change?” he asked the man. The man began counting out his own money, trying to find four dollars to give back to Richie. 

Eddie peered suspiciously at Richie’s fistful of money. “How much money do you have?” 

“I’ve got money don’t worry.” 

“How much, Richie?” Eddie asked softly. 

Richie turned towards the man, reaching over to help him count his money. 

“One, two,” the man counted, “three.” He looked down at his money, confused. 

He looked back up at Richie and smiled, “Can you loan me $1.23.” 

Richie laughed kindly. “Ya sure.” The man handed him back $3.77, and thanked him once more before leaving to go talk to the attendant. Richie watched him go with a smile. 

He turned back around to find Eddie staring at him. “Richie Tozier, how much money do you have?” 

“Ummm, well now I have, lets see,” Richie counted his money quickly, “$18.77.” He grinned sheepishly at Eddie. 

Eddie started at him blankly. “How exactly did you plan to get to California on $18.77?” 

Richie shrugged, “I’ll figure it out Eds, don’t worry. You gotta go catch your bus.”

Eddie ignored this, and pulled his wallet out. He began counting his own money. 

“Okay, I have $70. I’ll keep $20, you can have $50. I don’t have enough to buy your ticket Rich, I’m sorry,” Eddie looked down sadly. “You take the rest of this though okay, to make sure you have enough money to eat and for somewhere to stay tonight.” He pushed the money into Richie’s hands. 

Richie backed up instantly. “Wow, wow, Eds, I can’t take your money.” 

“Yes you can, come on.”

“No Eddie, I’m serious.” 

“Richie, come on, you can pay me back after Christmas if you want.” Eddie smiled at him sadly. “Come on Rich, do it for me so I know you’re safe and I won’t have to worry about you.”

Richie gave a small laugh, and awkwardly accepted the money, quickly shoving it into his pocket. 

“Thank you Eds,” he mumbled quietly. “You’re too good to me. I won’t forget this.” 

Eddie laughed. “Ya you will. But I’ll remind you.” He grinned at Richie, who couldn’t resist smiling as well. 

“Last call for bus number 33 leaving for Los Angeles,” a voice called over the speakers. 

Eddie and Richie stared at each other awkwardly. 

“Well Eds, thats your bus, you better hurry if you want that window seat.”

Eddie looked at him sadly. “Ya, i guess so..” He looked down at his feet. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay.” 

It was only going to be a few days away from Eddie, so why did Richie’s heart feel like it was about to break. 

He smiled sadly. “Don’t you worry about me Eds, I can take care of myself. You go have a good trip. I’ll see you back at school after the break, oaky?” He tried to keep the sadness from his voice. 

Eddie still looked unsure, but seemed to be making a conscious effort to keep his features composed. “Okay, if you’re sure. Bye for now I guess.”

They stared at each other uncomfortably for a moment, before Eddie rushed forward quickly and wrapped his arms around Richie’s middle. 

Richie laughed in surprise. He ducked down and wrapped his arms around Eddie, who pressed his face into Richie’s chest. Richie kissed the top of his head gently. 

“Bye Eds, Merry Christmas.”

Eddie let out a small sniffle, “Merry Christmas you idiot. Have a good time okay? Tell Bill and Mike I say hi and that I miss them.”

“Whatever you say Spaghetti.”

For once, Eddie ignored the nickname, giving Richie one more tight squeeze, and taking a deep breath, before pulling back. He reached down, grabbed his bag, and marched quickly out the door without looking back. 

Richie sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets. He made his way over to the door slowly, watching as the bus closed its door and pulled out of the station. With another sigh, Richie picked up his bag, and went to sit down on one of the benches. He was going to be spending the night here after all, it was probably too expensive for him to try and get a room anywhere. He didn’t feel right spending Eddie’s money, even though he had said he would. 

Richie plunked himself down on the bench in front of the television. It was playing an old Godzilla movie, which made him smile. When they were kids, Richie, Eddie, Stan and Bill used to have Godzilla marathons. They would play them for a whole night on tv every few months, and the four of them would have a sleepover in Bill’s basement. They would stay up all night eating chips and candy, discussing important things, like who would win in a fight, Superman or Godzilla. The answer was obviously Superman, but Stan never liked to let Richie win an argument, so he would throw himself wholeheartedly onto team Godzilla. They would argue for hours, until Bill threatened to unplug the tv if they didn’t stop. 

“Superman would clearly win.” 

Richie jumped about a foot in the air at the sound of the voice right behind his head. He whipped his head around to see Eddie, leaning casually against the back of the bench with his eyes glued to the tv. 

“Everyone agrees,” Eddie continued casually, “unless Godzilla managed to get Kryptonite somehow, which doesn’t seem likely. Stan just didn’t want to let you win an argument. That guy can be way too stubborn sometimes, and that’s coming from me.” 

Richie lost it, busting into surprised laughter. He didn’t know why the hell Eddie wasn’t on the bus, but he had never been happier to see his cute little face. 

“Eds, what the hell are you doing here. Your bus just left!” 

Eddie shrugged, eyes still on the television. “ I know.”

“Why aren’t you on it.”

A small smile made its way onto Eddie’s lips. “I guess I’m the kinda guy that likes to live on the edge.” 

Richie had never felt like kissing Eddie more than he did in that moment.

 

An hour later, they were in their room at the crappy motel beside the station. Richie hadn’t been prepared to pay for a room for himself, but he wasn’t about to let Eddie sleep on a bus station bench all night. Especially when he had stayed behind for Richie’s sake. 

They were a little worried about money, so they decided they probably couldn’t afford to buy dinner. Richie had offered up the snacks and drinks he had in his duffle bag, since, if he was being honest, he had brought more snacks than he could possibly eat in the next two weeks, let alone two days. Eddie wasn’t thrilled about the idea of junk food for dinner, but was too tired to do much more than frown a little. 

They sat on the bed, surrounded by Richie’s food stash. Eddie was trying to choose what he felt up to eating. 

“The trouble is I’m so thirsty I can’t really decide what I feel like eating,” Eddie grumbled. 

“Okay so have a drink then,” Richie said, gesturing to the pile. 

“Richie, literally all you have here is beer. Who packs beer in a duffle bag for a road trip? You’re literally so weird.” 

“Excuse me, Spaghetti Head, I’m just being prepared.” 

“Prepared for what exactly? Prohibition?” 

Richie laughed. “No, prepared for needing to be drunk enough to listen to all of your complaining.” 

He leaned forward, grabbing himself a beer. “Got a pen?” he asked Eddie.

Eddie frowned in confusion, but proceeded to pull a pen from his jacket pocket. “Why do you need a pen?” 

“I’m gonna shotgun it, it’s more fun that way.” He poked a hole in the bottom of the can, quickly covering it with his mouth. The popped the top, and chugged the beer quickly. When he finished he crunched the can, and sent it sailing towards the garbage can, almost making it in. He turned to Eddie with a grin. 

“How did you do that?” Eddie asked, curiously. 

Richie laughed. “Oh my poor repressed Edward, you’ve never shotgunned a beer before? It’s an essential part of the college experience.” 

“Don’t start that shit again. Just shut up and show me how to do it.” There was no real malice behind his words, he seemed genuinely curious. 

Richie jumped up, walking into the bathroom to get a towel. He figured Eddie would probably make a mess, and knowing him, getting beer all over himself would stress him out, so it was better to take some preventative measures.

He walked back to Eddie, and gently wrapped the towel around his neck, covering his shirt, before sitting back down next to him. 

“Okay, so this is called shotgunning a beer,” Richie began, in his Wise Old Man voice. “It’s an ancient tribal custom, originating from Southeast Asia.”

Eddie laughed, rolling his eyes at Richie. 

“Okay so what you wanna do, you wanna poke a hole in the bottom of the can like so,” Richie poked the hole with Eddie’s pen, covering it with his thumb. “You can use anything really, I just find a pen the easiest cause someone always has one. You want it to be just big enough for your mouth to fit over the hole. And then in one swift motion, now this is important. Eds this is important are you listening?” 

“Yes idiot, I’m listening.” Eddie laughed.

“Okay good, this is vital information. We’re talking life or death. Got it?”

“Oh my god would you get on with it already. The beer is gonna evaporate by the time you’re done talking.” 

Richied laughed. “Okay so in one motion, you’re gonna take it, put it to your mouth, and pull the tab on the top, okay? Then all the beer will slide down, right to your throat in like two seconds, so you gotta swallow fast okay? And try not to choke.”

Eddie snorted.

“Get your mind out of the gutter Edward, this is serious business.” 

Eddie laughed again, trying to make a serious face. “Okay, sorry, I’m focusing.” 

“Okay, you ready?”

“Yep. Gimme.” Eddie reached for the beer, replacing his thumb over the hole where Richie’s was before. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” he mumbled. 

“It’s good for you Eds, trying new things and all that, remember?” Richie laughed. 

Eddie smiled, raising the beer to his mouth. “Okay, here we go.” He put his lips over the hole, and pulled the tab. 

“Go Eddie go!” Richie cheered. 

Eddie tried to swallow quickly, but beer was starting to pour out the side of his mouth. 

“Quickly Eds, quickly!”

Eddie began to choke, dropping the still half full can to the floor. He fell back on the bed, coughing, beer running down his chin. 

Richie laughed, “Oh man, danger, danger.” He grabbed the corner of the towel from around Eddie’s shoulder, and used it to dry Eddie’s mouth, as he continued coughing. 

“It went up my nose,” Eddie yelled, letting out a small laugh. He tried to sit up, but fell back on the bed when he coughed again. Richie, still holding onto the towel, fell with him. Eddie landed on his back, Richie was on his side, landing half on top of Eddie. They both burst into giggles. 

“That was amazing Eds, truly, best I’ve ever seen.” 

“Think they’ll let me join a frat now?” Eddie laughed, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. “I’m clearly a natural at this.” 

Richie smiled down at him fondly. He used the towel to wipe away the rest of the beer. His eyes caught on Eddie’s lips, which were smiling. He forced his gaze upwards, meeting Eddie’s stare. The laughter died on Eddie’s lips when he saw Richie’s expression. 

Eddie’s eyes flicked around Richie’s face, stopping for a moment at his lips. Richie felt his heart stop. Eddie brought his gaze back to Richie’s eyes. They stayed frozen for a moment, looking at each other, the air around them charged with electricity. 

Richie was using all of his self control to not lean forward and press his lips to Eddies. He had never wanted anything more in his entire life than to kiss Eddie in that moment, but that hadn’t gone over well in the past, so he wasn’t going to do anything Eddie wasn't comfortable with. Richie held his breath, waiting to see what Eddie would do.

His heart sank when Eddie awkwardly cleared his throat, rolling to the side and out from underneath Richie. “Sorry, I just forgot I had to check something,” he mumbled absentmindedly. Eddie jumped up, and ran over to riffle through his bag. 

Richie blinked, trying to process everything that just happened. He felt a pressure building behind his eyes. He refused to let himself cry in front of Eddie, so he stood up robotically and walked into the bathroom. He shut the door, leaning his back against it and slid to the floor, face in his hands. 

“Okay Tozier,” he muttered to himself, “get a fucking hold of yourself.” He rocked back and forth a few times, willing his tears away. After a minute he stood and walked over to the sink. He turned the tap on, splashing cold water over his face. 

He grabbed another towel, and began to dry himself off. 

“Hey listen,” he called out to Eddie, hoping to break some of the tension before he exited the bathroom, “I’ll sleep on the floor tonight, okay?”

He heard Eddie’s mumbled voice, but couldn’t make out his exact words. 

“I don’t want any arguments, alright? I slept on the bed last night, not to mention it’s your money that we used to pay for this place..” Richie trailed off as he half opened the bathroom door and noticed that Eddie’s back was turned to him. He had the room phone cradled in the crook of his neck. 

“Pat listen, I’m sorry okay. There were some setbacks, so it’s going to take me a little longer to get there than I thought. No, no, everything’s fine, really. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay, I promise.”

Richie’s heart sunk through the floor. He felt numb, hearing Eddie’s soft voice as he spoke to Patrick. 

“Ya, I miss you too. I mean I’ve got this big old bed and no one to share it with” Eddie laughed awkwardly. 

Richie felt himself go cold. Suddenly he couldn’t stand to be in this room anymore. He felt himself starting to panic. He needed air. 

Richie pushed the door open the rest of the way, walking briskly over to the chair where his coat lay. He grabbed it and threw it over his shoulders forcefully. 

Eddie finally noticed he was out of the bathroom, and gave him a puzzled look. He lowered the phone from his ear, covering it with his hand. “Where are you going!” 

“I’m going for a walk,” Richie snapped, looking at the wall behind Eddie’s head instead of his face. 

Eddie’s mouth fell open. “It’s almost midnight! Are you crazy, it’s not safe out there by yourself.” 

Richie laughed dryly. “Ya, thanks for the concern Eddie. Noted. It’s too stuffy in here. See you later.” He turned and walked out the door, slamming it behind him, leaving a startled Eddie alone in their room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come talk to me on tumblr!
> 
> beep--beep--eds.tumblr.com


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh hey, its me, ya boi, back at it again with a really shitty chapter.  
> Sorry this took so long. What's motivation? Can anyone find some for me? thanks
> 
> this chapter is super shitty, sorry my loves. I got real frustrated with transition scenes and just didn't wanna deal with it for like a week.. and then I decided to just finish it today even though I have a headache and don't feel good, so its just a fucking mess. Definitely didn't edit this at all, but tbh I really just wanted to move on to the next part. so... enjoy i guess ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Richie walked aimlessly down the sidewalk, hands in his pockets. He was breathing hard, trying to calm himself down. He didn’t even know why he was so mad, it wasn’t like Eddie did anything wrong. He knew Eddie had a boyfriend, he shouldn’t be surprised that Eddie wants to talk to Patrick. They had just been having such a good time together that it practically slipped Richie’s mind. Being brought back to reality, the reality where Eddie had a boyfriend who made him happier than Richie could ever hope to, was a bit of a slap to the face. 

Richie shook his head vigorously. He had to stop thinking about this, about Eddie, or he was going to go crazy. What he needed was a drink. He spotted a bar a little way up the road, and began making a beeline for it.

Richie pushed open the door and looked around. It was an old run down place, full of mostly middle aged to elderly men. A sad little jukebox sat in the corner playing some country music Richie didn’t recognize. 

Richie made his way over to the bar, and plunked himself unceremoniously onto a stool at the counter. 

“ID please,” the bartender called over to him from where he was cleaning glasses in the back. Richie took his fake out of his wallet and tossed it on the counter. 

The bartender meandered his way over to examine it. His eyebrow shot up. Richie’s ID said his name was Richard Stevens, that he was 29, and a doctor. The man gave him a sceptical look, but seemed to decide it wasn’t worth the effort to call him out on it. 

“Okay Dr. Stevens, what’ll it be?” The man's voice dripped with sarcasm, but he wore a small smile. 

“Two beers please.” 

The bartender filled two glasses, and Richie immediately began to chug one. The bartender shook his head and walked away to serve another customer. 

A large man sidled up to the stool beside Richie. His slurred his words, wobbling side to side, and had to grab the counter to steady himself. “Mind if I sit here?” 

Richie let out a small laugh, “Sure buddy, go ahead.” 

The man plunked himself down on the stool, a little too close for Richie’s comfort. This wasn’t helped by the fact that the man continued to lean further into Richie’s face. 

“See that waitress over there?” The man pointed in the general direction of some tables in the back. 

Richie pushed his glasses back up his nose to get a better look. He saw a frazzled blonde waitress taking a drink order. 

“Uhhh ya?” Richie picked up his second beer and began to down it. 

“Hot isn’t she?” The Man gave him a dopey grin. 

“Ummm I guess so..” Richie wasn’t really in the mood for this kind of talk, and even at the best of times leering at waitresses with middle aged farmers wasn’t really his idea of a good time. 

“She’s rejected me every night this week. Not interested, she says.” The man shook his head solemnly. 

Richie’s head was beginning to swim a little from the beers in the room, and the two beers he had just finished. He waved down the bartender, pointed to his glass and asked for two more beers. He needed to be much more drunk if he was going to have this conversation. 

“That’s rough buddy. I know the feeling.” 

The man looked Richie up and down. “What, are you telling me that you’re having girl problems too? Good looking young man like you? I mean the hair is a little crazy and the glasses are a bit much, but…” 

Richie decided this was definitely not the place to start telling strangers about his guy problems. This was possibly the straightest small town bar he had ever been in. He also didn’t want to hear anymore about what this man thought his faults were. 

“It’s more of a specific person problem.” 

The man nodded sagely, wobbling dangerously on his stool. “She got a boyfriend?” 

Richie sighed deeply. “Yep.” 

“Well then she’s stupid. She’s missing quite the catch.” The man tried to bump Richie’s arm with his elbow in a friendly manner, but stumbled sideways off his stool instead. 

Richie laughed. “Well your waitress is missing quite the catch too.”

The man climbed back on his stool, grabbed his drink and raised it in the air. “Hear, hear! We’re two good looking guys, we don’t need ‘em!” 

“Three good looking guys!” A voice piped up from Richie’s right. 

Richie glanced over and saw an old guy in a cowboy hat smiling at him from down the bar. He squinted his eyes and decided that if he looked at the man only through his half lidded eyes, he was passively decent looking. “You betcha buddy!” 

The man tipped his hat to Richie. 

Richie finished off his drink. “You know what, it’s Christmas time, we shouldn’t be moping around, we should be celebrating! What’re you drinking? I’m buying. Cowboy guy, what do you want?”

He technically didn’t have enough money to buy drinks, he was already using the last of his money on his own. He felt a little guilty about using Eddie’s money. He made a mental note to remember to pay him back after Christmas. 

“Beer,” the old man in the cowboy hat grunted. 

“Seltzer,” the large man said, grinning. 

“Barkeep, get this man a trough of seltzer!” Richie called out, laughing. “And four more beers for me and cowboy guy!”

Both men let out a cheer. The bartender tried not to look irritated at all the noise they were making, between the cheering and Richie’s yelling. 

When their drinks were poured Richie clinked glasses with both men before downing his fifth and sixth beer in quick succession. 

Richie wasn’t a huge drinker normally, so he was feeling pretty good. Almost like he could forget his problems. Eddie, who’s Eddie? Don’t know an Eddie. No sir, no sadness here, only beer and his new cowboy friends. 

The large man leaned over into Richie’s space again. This time, to Richie’s delight, he began to sing. 

“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose.” 

Richie grinned, he fucking loved Christmas songs. He put his arm around the mans shoulder and joined in, swaying them side to side as they sang. 

“Yuletide carols being sung by a choir, and folks dressed up like Eskimos!”

Cowboy guy moved over and put his arm around Richie’s shoulder. The three of them swayed together, singing loudly and very off key. 

“Everybody knows, some turkey and some mistletoe,” Richie sang at the top of his lungs, feeling floaty and mostly happy. 

 

Two hours later, Richie was stumbling back through the door to the motel room, still singing. He was really gone at this point. He had completely lost count of how many more beers he’d had. He didn’t remember how he got back. He was holding three empty beer cans in his hands. He was pretty sure he had left the bar with those two guys when they had gotten cut off, and bought more beer at a convenient store. Probably.. Richie’s brain wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders currently. 

“Frosty the snowman, knew the sun was hot that day,” he sang as he flung the door open and tripped his way inside. 

The light was still on. Eddie was sitting up in the bed, under the covers, writing in his brown leather book and using a calculator. He looked up at all the noise. 

His face scrunched up the way it did when he was worried or annoyed. Richie couldn’t really tell which it was, probably both. 

“Richie! Where have you been! It’s 2:30 in the morning, I was worried about you!” He looked at the beer cans in Richie’s hands and sighed. 

Richie stumbled over to the bed, then got a brilliant idea. 

“That guy Patrick may be a real brain and all, but can he do this.” Richie slurred his words, but hoped he was still getting his point across. 

He began to try and juggle the three cans. He was possibly the best juggler in the world, he was probably going to be famous for being awesome at juggling-

He dropped two of them on the ground almost immediately. 

“Oh whoops.” Richie laughed. Maybe not famous then. He looked down at the last beer can left in his hand, trying to decide what he should do with it. Clearly there was only one thing to be done. He crushed the can against his forehead. 

This took the last of Richie’s energy. He lost all desire to be standing up, so he fell face first onto the bed, where he lay without moving. He started to pass out almost instantly. 

“Richie?” He very distantly heard Eddie talking to him, but didn’t have the energy to move his mouth to answer him. 

There was a rustling as Eddie put his book and calculator away. Richie felt his head get lifted up, a pillow placed under it. 

“Rich, come on.” The beer can was gently removed from his hand, and he felt his shoes get taken off. 

Richie tried to respond. He used all of his remaining energy to try and tell Eddie thank you for being so nice even after he was such a dick. What came out was more Christmas carols. 

“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,” Richie sang, voice muffled in the pillow.

Eddie chuckled, pulling a blanket over Richie, tucking it around him. Richie felt Eddie rubbing his back gently. He was really falling asleep now. The room felt very far away. Distantly he felt what he thought might be a kiss placed on his temple. 

He heard a small murmur of “Go to sleep you idiot,” before he drifted off. 

 

The next morning was a bustle of activity. Richie woke up feeling rather hungover, and eager to get going. Eddie was being his normal self and taking eight million years to get going. Richie had been dressed for over forty five minutes. He had his jacket on, bag in hand, and was standing in the open door, bouncing on the balls of his feet impatiently. 

“Eddie, come on! Let’s go!” He called for at least the fifth time. 

Eddie darted out of the bathroom, running over to the bed and ducking down to check beneath it. 

“Do you think we have everything?”

Richie rubbed his temple in irritation. “Oh my god for the hundredth time, yes! I have everything, you have everything. Everything is fine, let’s go!”

Eddie huffed at him. “You can’t rush me, I’ll forget something if you rush me.” He bent down to check under the tv stand. 

Richie threw up his hands in disbelief. “Under the tv stand. Just great, he’s checking under the tv stand. What’s under there? I don’t know, he doesn’t know. I’m pretty sure we didn’t store our clothes under the tv stand Eddie, Jesus.”

“Shut the fuck up and leave me alone.” Eddie darted into the bathroom again. 

“Eds you’ve checked the bathroom four times. I’m not kidding, we have to get going. It’s already almost eleven. If you want to get anywhere today we have to go!” 

“Okay alright, Jesus Fucking Christ.” Eddie glared at Richie as he exited the bathroom. He grabbed his jacket from the chair by the door, flinging it over his shoulders and purposefully hitting Richie with it. 

Richie decided to not dignify that with a response. He grabbed Eddie’s bag and slung it over his shoulder, walking away with both of their bags, leaving Eddie to lock the door. 

“And we are moving. Alright people, let’s look alive. It’s go time. California here we come!” 

 

Apparently California here they did not come. They had been trying to find a ride for over an hour. Not a single person seemed willing to stop. Richie was on the side of the road, thumb out, jumping up and down enthusiastically for every car that drove by. 

Eddie had given up about 20 minutes in. He was sitting on Richie’s bag, he didn’t want to get his pants dirty so Richie had gallantly offered up his bag to sit on. Eddie had a beanie pulled down over his ears, his arms crossed in irritation. 

“Richie this clearly isn’t working.” 

“Ya no shit, thanks for the brilliant observation Eds.” 

“Well we have to do something, I’m starving and it’s getting late.”

Richie racked his brains trying to think of something that would help them get a lift. 

“We could pretend you were pregnant.” He said with a laugh. 

“Oh ya, hilarious. You’re a real riot. Why would I be the pregnant one? We’re both guys if you hadn’t noticed.” 

Richie smirked at him. “Ya Eds, but one of us is clearly a bottom, and one of us,” he pointed to himself, “clearly isn’t, so..” 

Eddie’s entire face turned pink. He began spluttering, trying to think of a response. 

“Shut the fuck up,” is what he came up with. “That’s so dumb and completely beside the point.”

Richie laughed loudly, pretty proud of himself. “Anyway, have anything in that magical bag of yours that would get us a sympathy ride?”

Eddie ducked his face down and ruffled through his bag. He pulled out his medical supplies, four different hats, and six books. 

“Oh, this could work.” He was holding a sling for a broken arm. 

“Eddie why the fuck do you have that?” 

“You can never be too careful. Besides, I’ve broken my arm twice if you remember, so I’m a little paranoid about it. One time of having Mike make me a terrible homemade splint was enough thank you.”

Richie laughed. “Oh ya, I forgot you did it twice. You really were such a spaz as a kid.” 

Eddie glared at him. The pink had started to go away. Apparently irritation at Richie outweighed embarrassment. 

“It literally wasn’t even my fault either time. Bowers broke my arm the first time. The second time I fell through the floor in that stupid old house you and Bill dragged us to.” 

“Hey now, that was not my idea at all. I’m just a good friend who didn’t want to let Bill die in that fucking crackhouse alone.” 

“Still though.” 

“And, if you remember correctly, I was so pissed at Bill after you got hurt that we got in a huge fight and he punched me in the face.” 

Eddie laughed, “oh ya, I forgot about that to be honest. Why were you so mad? You didn’t get hurt or anything.” 

Richie looked at him like he was the stupidest person in the universe, which he probably was. How oblivious could one person be. “Ya but you got hurt Eddie. I was like seeing red I was so mad. And your mom wouldn’t let us see you in the hospital. She called me dirty, and called Bev a slut. And you were all alone in the hospital and I was so scared for you, and so mad that I didn’t do anything to stop it from happening.” 

Eddie gave him a soft look. “Rich you know that wasn’t your fault right? You couldn’t have done anything to stop it, it was an accident.” 

Richie snorted. “I was the one that let Bill talk us into that. I should have said no, I mean I know you like hero worshipped the guy and probably would have gone anyway, but…”

Eddie gave him a puzzled look. “Wait you think I went in that house because of Bill?” 

Now it was Richie’s turn to look puzzled. “I mean ya, you were basically in love with the guy, we all knew it. You would have gone anywhere he said. We all would have probably.” 

Eddie’s mouth quirked up at the corner. “You really are an idiot you know that? I was never in love with Bill. I went cause you wanted to and you said it would be fine. I followed you into that house, dumbass.” 

Richie blinked at him. He had no idea how to process that information. Basically all his life he had been functioning under the assumption that Eddie had been in love with Bill their whole childhood. He felt his world get thrown off its axis a little. Eddie followed Richie in the house? Why the fuck would he do that? 

Richie continued to stand in stunned silence. After a minute Eddie laughed loudly. 

“You’re literally so dumb I don’t even know what to say to you, oh my god.” 

Richie squinted his eyes. “Why am I dumb? Am I missing something? Why the fuck would you go in that house for me?” 

Eddie laughed, getting to his feet. He patted Richie on the arm. “I’ll tell you when you’re older little guy,” Eddie said in his most patronizing, sarcastic voice. 

Before Richie could figure out an appropriate response, Eddie put the sling over his head and tucked his arm up into it. He put it over his jacket so it would be really obvious. 

“Okay what do you think?” He spun around, posing like a model, showing off the sling.

A grin spread itself across Richie’s face. “I think you look like a weirdo. An adorable weirdo.” He reached out and pinched Eddie’s cheek. 

Eddie swatted his hand away, laughing. They both turned their heads when they heard a car coming down the road. Richie pushed Eddie in front of him, putting his hands on Eddie’s shoulders and angling him towards the car so the sling could clearly be seen. Eddie stuck out his thumb on his other hand, and tried to look like he was in pain. 

The driver was an older lady, who took one look at Eddie and pulled right over. 

“Fuck yes, you’re a genius Spaghetti man!” Richie picked up both of their bags and started towards the car.

“Well, one of us has to be the brains of the operation.” 

“Does that mean I’m the looks?” Richie winked at him. 

Eddie’s ears turned pink again. “Do you ever shut the hell up?” 

“You know me better than that Eds,” Richie called, and skipped the rest of the way over to the car. 

 

The old woman’s name was Cora, and apparently she was on her way to visit her grandchildren. She informed them she was able to take them as far as Albuquerque, which was music to their ears. 

“That’s perfect!” Eddie was almost jumping up and down in the passenger seat with enthusiasm. “That’s almost exactly 200 miles!” 

Richie squinted at him from the back seat. “200 miles?”

“Oh right, well I worked out a schedule last night when I was waiting for you to get back. I needed to distract myself.” Eddie said this casually, but it made Richie’s gut squirm with guilt. “And I figured out that with the amount of money we have, how far we have left to go, and the approximate cost of food, it works out to one meal each, every 200 miles.” 

Cora gave him a kind smile. “My my, you are quite a clever young man, aren’t you. I wish my granddaughter would date someone like you.” Eddie’s ears went pink, and Richie let out a loud laugh. 

“Although handsome young man like you, I’m sure some lucky girl already snapped you up,” Cora continued, oblivious to Eddie’s discomfort with the topic. Richie’s smile dropped. Eddie crossed his arms over his chest and slid down further into his seat.

Cora laughed, “Oh, I’ve embarrassed you I see, don’t want to talk about it with an old broad like me?” She looked at Richie in the rear view mirror. “Well, I’ll have to get my gossip from you then, does our handsome friend here have a lady, or should I give him my granddaughters number?” 

Richie’s heart dropped though the floor. He had no idea how to answer the question without either outing Eddie by accident, or being extremely obvious about his crush on Eddie. Not to mention how much he actively did not want to have to think about good old Pat. Cora looked at him expectantly. He bit his lip in thought.

“I mean, it’s not really my place to talk about honestly,” Richie shrugged. “But he seems happy, which is all that I care about,” he said softly, looking out the window to avoid eye contact with anyone. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Eddie looking at him. 

“Well that’s very sweet.” She turned and smiled at Eddie. “You’re very lucky to have such a good friend.” 

Eddie smiled at Richie softly, “Ya, I really am.”

Richie was thankfully saved from having to come up with a response when Cora began to chatter to Eddie about her family. Richie tuned them out, staring out the window daydreaming of California. 

 

He must have fallen asleep. Richie had been having a wonderful dream where he, Bill and Mike were playing volleyball on the beach, when he suddenly felt his shoulder being violently shaken. He blinked his eyes open and saw Eddie staring at him expectantly from the front seat. 

“We’re here Rich, c’mon you gotta get up.” Eddie turned back to Cora to thank her for the ride, Richie stretched his arms above his head. He had a very sore neck. He rubbed at it as he undid his seatbelt and climbed out of the car. He mumbled his thanks to Cora before heading to grab his bags from the trunk. He passed Eddie his bag, and turned to see where they were. 

Apparently they were in the middle of nowhere. They were on the side of a dirt road, and about twenty feet away there was a single restaurant, a run down old place that advertised all day breakfast, and gas station. It didn’t look like there was anything else around for miles. 

“Uhh Eds, why are we in the middle of nowhere?” He raised his eyebrow at Eddie, who had his eyes fixed on the restaurant. 

“I was starving, and it had been about 200 miles, so I asked Cora to drop us off as soon as I saw a restaurant.”

Richie laughed. “Oh man Eddie, are you sure it’s actually been 200 miles, I don’t want to throw off the schedule.”

“Don’t be a dick, I’m too hungry to deal with you right now.” They waved goodbye to Cora as she drove off, and turned to walk into the restaurant. 

“I’m so fucking hungry, I’m going to eat so much, you have no idea,” Eddie said excitedly. “I’m going to get pancakes, and sausages, and maybe some waffles. Oh, and a milkshake! Do you think they have milkshakes, they had better have milkshakes.” 

“Im sure they have milkshakes Eds. If they don’t I’ll rough ‘em up a little bit until they make you one,” Richie grinned.

Eddie rolled his eyes. “My hero.” 

“And don’t you forget it,” Richie reached over and pinched Eddie’s cheek. 

Eddie slapped his hand away. “Let me just double check and make sure how much we can spend each, so we don’t go over our budget. Just gimme one sec,” Eddie said, stopping to dig through his bag. 

He dug around for a minute, apparently unable to find what he was looking for. 

“Fuck,” Eddie said to himself, looking through his bag more frantically. “Oh shit, oh fuck.” Eddie dropped into a crouch and dumped the contents of his bag on the ground. 

“Eddie what the fuck, what’s the matter?” Richie started to get nervous at Eddie’s tone. Eddie looked up at Richie with wide eyes, his face pale. 

“It’s not here Rich. The money, none of it’s here.” 

Richie’s jaw dropped. “Are you telling me you lost all of your money? How the hell did you lose all of your money!”

Eddie didn’t respond, just looked down at the contents of his bag in shock. 

“What the fuck are we gonna do?”


End file.
